First Radiation Treatment Complete

We are home now after the first round of Radiation. We got out the door a few minutes later than we wanted this morning, but made it to our appointment on time. Mom, Dad, Rebekah, Sarah and friend Sarah (who spent the night with us last night) headed out this morning at just after 5:30am. There wasn't much traffic to worry about at that hour.

It seemed to take them a little longer to get things ready this morning than they anticipated, so we got a little late start. It was close to 7:00am by the time she actually went in for treatment. The nurse and the radiation oncologist came by and told us "she's doing great" a few times while she was receiving treatment. The first day they do a lot more "checking" than usual, so the treatment takes longer. They have told us to anticipate the treatment itself only taking 15 minutes or so and the whole process being pretty quick. We'll have to see how the next few days go. Friend Sarah helped with little Sarah and was great!

Thursday, after Radiation, she is scheduled for another Cat Scan to confirm that everything is lined up right (a sort of "Quality Control"). We have our appointment at Clinic that day and probably had some extra time anyway, so that works.

Rebekah still has a very raspy voice and it seems to be getting worse. We're not sure the cause. Mom's afraid that she is coming down with something. Uugh! The doctor wasn't concerned about it yesterday.

Yesterday, during the transfusion, Mom spent quite a bit of time trying to get Rebekah to lay down and go to sleep. Finally she fell asleep... About a half hour later, she woke up sick to her stomach and threw up. Then the nurse gave her some anti-nausea medication and that seemed to help. But she wouldn't go back to sleep.

By the time we got home, she was a very tired and very crabby girl. She would say she wanted to eat and take a few bites and then be "all done". Then she would play for a few minutes and say she wanted to eat. We decided that she needed to go to bed early.

She did not sleep well and continued to wake up, screaming and thrashing around. She also wanted water, but she couldn't have any of that after midnight because of the anesthesia. Mom didn't get much sleep. Hopefully things will go better.

After getting home, both girls got something to eat. Rebekah was more interested in eating off Sarah's tray (and helping Sarah eat) than eating what was in her bowl. But at least she was eating something. Rebekah is watching some cartoons and seems "content" at this point.