Three down, Three to go...

So, Patrick finished up week three of radiation. He has one more week of radiation to the head...the remaining 2 weeks will be spine only. That is a good thing because the "cage" that goes over his head for the radiation is quite uncomfortable. He has started losing his hair...he's OK with that. He started his summer college classes. They are easy "fluff" courses...he has to attend a concert for his music appreciation class, so he and I will go to Cleveland to hear the Cleveland Orchestra..I can't wait. I think I'm more excited than he is...On the weekends, Patrick has been going to weddings and fishing with his favorite fishing buddy, Jake. This weekend he is out at Camp Carl- I think-? He will be out at Camp Carl again this summer. I am hoping to have a combo End-of-Radiation/End-of-College party sometime in June. He finishes up with both during the second week in June. If everything goes as expected, he should have his last radiation treatment on Mon. June 14th- not like I'm counting or anything!! It actually has gone pretty fast so far.
Keep the prayers and thoughts coming.

One down, Five to go....

So, Patrick has completed his first week of radiation. Monday, his first day, ended up being a long, grueling ordeal. First, we had to wait over an hour to go back as the main "machine" wasn't working. So they were working with an older piece of equipment which took longer for everyone to get through. Then, Dr. Fromm wanted more films-he wanted to "tweak" everything to within a millimeter. He apparently wasn't satisfied with the films that were done on Friday. A process that normally would take about half an hour took over an hour to accomplish- all the while Patrick is lying on his stomach, arms down on his side and head in an awkward position with a "mold" clamped in place to keep his head from moving!! Because everyone knew me from when I had been there with children from Akron Children's -getting radiation treatments which we had to sedate them for- they allowed me to go back with Patrick. I was able to be with him the entire time and was able to talk to him and call a time-out when it was necessary. I also coached the techs a couple of times to tell Patrick what was going to happen next...everyone was very nice to Patrick and to me. I was able to visit with Dr. Fromm and the techs- which was nice. Even though the process was exhausting, I'm glad that Dr. Fromm is a perfectionist! We took a break after the films, then Patrick finally had his first treatment. The next day, as promised, the entire procedure only took about 20 minutes-from the time Patrick walked in till he left and was in his truck...we got his truck out of storage Monday morning. Fortunately, things were slow again at work- for me- so I was able to stay with Patrick for the entire 31/2 hours- on Monday. Patrick has been driving himself to treatments since Monday and is doing fine. We got a prescription for Zofran for the nausea and it's working well for Patrick. He's feeling tired now, but the weekend off is great for him. He went to the second of 6 or 7 weddings that he's invited to this spring/summer- not including his sister's wedding in Sept.! His hair will start falling out at some point but hopefully will be growing back in time for Emily's wedding.
I will update next week...keep praying for energy and courage for Patrick and for Ralph and I to be strong...it's really hard watching Patrick go through all this.
Thanks for your continued prayers and words of encouragement.
Priscilla