A Typical Early Morning

Rebekah is handling the Radiation treatments ok. During the ride to the hospital, she dozes or just rests. On rare occasion, she asks for something to eat or drink (which she can't have because of the anesthesia). Most of the time, she is quiet and she doesn't fight getting into the car and going. She does object a little to being woken up, but then who wouldn't.

Once at Radiation, she wanders around, says hi to everyone and heads into the treatment room. She doesn't seem to be afraid of going in and in many ways seems to consider Radiation as her place. (She seems as comfortable there as she does at home.) She lets them know if anything is out of place. Today there was an oxygen tank in the middle of the way. She was not happy about that - it should not have been there. She made sure they knew it.

She wants the nurse to take her shoe and sock off to check her oxygen saturation (it works better on her toe than on her finger). She makes sure the nurse checks her temperature and she likes to help with the thermometer.

The anesthesiologist asks her which tube she wants to use and she picks one out. She asks if Rebekah is ready for her "Power Nap". She snuggles with mom as she gets her anesthesia and falls asleep. Then she is layed down on the machine and mom leaves.

After the treatment is complete, she is taken into a recovery room, disconnected from the anesthesia and they find mom. She sleeps for 20 minutes or so longer, until mom wakes her up. It takes some time for the anesthesia to start to wear off and a little effort to get her to wake up. Once awake, she will often want down, but she is very wobbly and mom won't let her down. She grumbles and struggles to get down and cries when mom won't let her have her way. Mom tries to get her to calm down at least a little before heading for home. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

On the way home, she often complains that she wants something to eat. Mom won't let her eat in the car, just in case she gets sick. (Luckily the anesthesia that they use has an anti-nausea property, so getting sick would be unlikely.) She can have some water, but usually won't take that either.

Once home, we get some breakfast. It often takes a little bit to get her to eat - finding the right foods, letting her sit in mom's lap or Sarah's chair, lots of encouragement and lots of time... Mealtimes are long... She is eating more. We are not sure whether it is the chemo cycle or the meds, but either way her appetite is increasing - which she needs.

Chemotherapy will continue every three weeks. Next week we'll be back in the hospital for chemo for a long (6 day) stay. They'll give us a hall pass to leave the hospital building to go over to Radiation each morning. That will be a new experience. We will have to see how it will work out.