Lucky Lowell

Even though I am sad for the ways in which my dad (and our family) has suffered because of his brain tumor, I am continually reminded through my interaction with others with brain tumors that dad is in reality extremely lucky, or blessed, or however you want to characterize it.

Being a part of the Brain Trust's on-line support group for people affected by oligodendrogliomas has been eye opening....and this is a group only for this certain type of tumor, not all brain tumors (ie the really bad one, GBM - glioblastoma multiforme). Dad is the anomaly of this group. No one (that I'm aware) is a 20+ year survivor. At times it's hard for me to be a part of this list because, quite frankly, it can be very scary and depressing. But I'm understanding more and more how fortunate dad is. Fortunate to only have a grade 2.5 tumor (on a scale of 1 to 4, 4 being the worst and fastest growing). Fortunate that the tumor is/was "close to the surface" in the frontal lobe (in that it didn't invade the areas that control his ability to speak, understand speech, walk, hear, etc.). Fortunate that he had seizures to indicate that something was growing (sometimes people are asymptomatic and the tumors aren't found until it's too late).

This glass is definitely half-full.

And, more importantly, I'm pretty sure dad thinks it's half-full too, and that certainly has not always been the case.