Day +44: Radiation Begins

Once the usual get-ready-for-the-day routines were completed, Josie and Christine delivered Keith to the BMT clinic for a quick physical exam and another lab draw prior to the radiation session scheduled for early afternoon. That left time for Keith to attend school for a while during which time he worked on another art project. He will be able to bring it back to RM House on Monday so we’re looking forward to seeing what he has created this time around.

Then it was on to the radiation appointment and Keith knocked off his first session successfully – it was quick and painless as advertised. Apparently at his previous appointment, a radiology technician used unfortunate word selection and mentioned that the radiation would ‘burn his skin’. Hearing this was news to all of us and launched Keith into panic mode. The tech quickly realized her mistake, forgetting that Keith was only ten years old (the Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center serves adult as well as pediatric patients) and clarified that the ‘burn’ wouldn’t actually hurt, it would be similar to getting sunburn on a small area of his skin. Crisis averted and he returned to his cool, calm self again.

Back ‘home’ and RM House Keith suddenly began to feel green around the gills and for several hours was sick to his stomach. A bit confused and concerned we called the clinic and they seemed sure that it was probably not related to the radiation. Keith was just having one of those occasional episodes that can happen when kids go through what he has gone through. We were finally able to control it with Zofran around 4pm and he has been fine ever since.

Christine heads back home to Virginia on Saturday where she and her family are preparing for a two-year relocation to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. We certainly admire them for their spirit of adventure and look forward to hearing frequent updates of their exotic exploits sand surfing and camel riding in one of the most over-the-top cosmopolitan centers of the world.