Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Awaiting Radiation

Our morning routine during radiation has become very familiar by this point. We arrive a little before 8am and wait for things to get started. This morning Henry snuggled with mommy for a bit until this week's anesthesiologist arrived. Because they've finally got his positioning down well now, Henry's only in treatment for 15 - 20 minutes. He awakes easily and is ready for the day! Today we're planning on a trip to the zoo, again courtesy of The Believe In Tomorrow Foundation.

This was Wednesday's post, but due to technical problems we couldn't get it to post right away. We had a fabulous time at the zoo, Henry even got to hand feed a giraffe! He's such a boy - as we were leaving we talked about all the animals that we saw, and asked which one was his favorite. "The tram was my favorite part." Always things with wheels.

We have a radiation break today. Henry's counts have dropped rapidly, and the radiation oncologist wants to give his bone marrow a rest. A lot of his functional bone marrow is in the spine, which takes a hit from the radiation. That combined with the fact that it's been hit pretty hard already over the last 6 months made his numbers fall off. So, we were told yesterday that we could skip Friday's treatment, and return on Monday to resume. Early next week they will continue to "rest" the spine, and treat just the head area, where there is little marrow to worry about. Once his numbers look better they'll finish up with the spinal treatments.

We're all looking forward to the girls' arrival back home. They've been in NC at the beach all week, and we miss them terribly.

Have a great weekend!

5 comments:

Richard Hull said...

Hi,
I am sorry about your son. I will keep him in my prayers. He is a great looking child. I live in Hagerstown, too. Although it doesn't say that in my profile. I am new at this and didn't want people to know exactly where I am in Maryland. I just had a friend who is like a sister to me who was operated on for brain cancer. She is 60 though so in that sense it is a lot different. In fact, she is still in the hospital as I write this. Her surgery was this past Tuesday. Anyway, I will pray for Henry.
Bye,
Richard

Anonymous said...

Thinking of you guys daily... check on here frequently to get the new updates! Henry, you are one tough cookie! I'm so in awe of how strong you are (and your family, too!).

Thank you so much for keeping us updated -- it really is such a nice way to keep tabs on Henry!!

MUCH LOVE from KS...

The Hartley Hooligans

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Henry continues to be quite a trooper, as do both of you. Very sweet picture of Tara and Henry. The zoo sounds like a lot of fun.

Looks like your lemonade goal needs to be raised - that's awesome.

Enjoy your weekend at home all together.

Love, Julie, Brad, Patrick, Andrew and Samantha

Anonymous said...

Been thinking about you all week. What a sweet picture of Henry with Tara. I still love holding "my boy" in my lap and he will be 13 next month. That never grows old!

Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful weekend!

Cousin Susan H.

Unknown said...

Hey ya'all, it's Bibi here (new Blogger identity). Just wanted to let you know that although you won't be crossing paths with Matt all that often anymore, our thoughts and prayers are always with you. I will continue to read your blog as always and send Henry LOTS of fairy godmother kisses, especially while he's in that MRI! What a brave sweet little boy.