Photo of my brain

I am hoping you can see here a slice from Thursday’s MRI, showing the part of my brain that has been changed.  Focus on the top right corner of the brain.  (It looks right, but in the brain, everything is backwards.  This is my left frontal lobe.)  Everything in that area was affected by the surgery.  At a glance, it looks like the same as the other gray matter, but not so.  It appears the same color, but is actually made up nearly entirely of blood and bloody tissue.  Over time it will take on the look of an entirely empty black space, actually filled with water.

Before the surgery, nearly all of that area was white, showing as tumor.  The exception was an area of black where part of the tumor was removed in January, 2006.  Now the only tumor visible is along the bottom of the left frontal area, which is the location of the speech center, a place the surgeon consciously avoided.  The white at the top is actually FLAIR image, not tumor.  Invisible to us are tiny microscopic tentacles of tumor that extend from this central area.  The radiation I should start within the next two weeks will target the remaining tumor with the goal of reducing it, but still avoiding my speech. 

Keep a good thought in mind as the future unfolds.  Thanks again.