Day Minus 7

Today, Alex's body was flooded with radiation - twice. It will happen again for the next three days.

The medical transport came to get him at 7:20am. Since we weren't sure how well he was going to do while conscious, the sedation team was standing by. This, of course, meant no food before the treatment.

Alex rode in a bed, and I walked beside him, as we traversed the barely navigable back halls of OHSU to get to the radiation center. We started on the 10th floor, then went to the 8th floor, then back up to the 10th floor, and then to the 4th floor.

Eric met us there after leaving Tessa in good hands with Grandma Diana back at the house. Two nice ladies (whose names I have forgotten), walked us into the room with the Linear Accelerator on one side, and a reclining chair on the other.



Alex sat so very still while the techs worked to get him lined up with the machine. His feet were bound, his body taped with radiation gauges embedded in brass. Pillows, towels, and sheets were folded, and wedged under different parts of his body so the machine would accurately wash his body with the same amount of radiation everywhere.



After he was strapped to the chair, and had his hands tapped down, a giant plexiglass screen was put between him and the machine.

I tried not to cry when it was time for us to leave. I was holding my own until the door closed. This door...wow...this door was 24 inches of lead and concrete - a two foot thick vault door. It slid closed silently, masking any sound of Alex, or the movie he was watching (Empire Strikes Back).

We were allowed a quick view of Alex on the video monitor, sitting as stoically as the picture above, then we were banished from the room, due to HIPPA laws (other patient info might be visible). After about 10 minutes, his first "side" was done, and we were allowed back into the chamber, and got to touch him and talk to him, while they arranged him for the second radiation blast.

The door quietly removed us from our son, and the radiation began again. All Eric and I could do is sit on the small brown bench next to that damn door, and listen to the faint sounds of Star Wars through the unseen monitor.

Alex was amazing...he IS amazing. He is my hero. He didn't feel the effects of the radiation right away, but as the day progressed, he started to complain of a headache. After his second round of TBI (Total Body Irradiation) this afternoon, the headache got bad enough that he asked for pain medicine. A dose of Oxycodon did the trick, and he napped for a few hours.

I napped right with him in his hospital bed, and felt the warmth of his face on my arm. When he woke up, we could see that his face is flushed (one of the side effects of TBI, along with headaches).

With a note from Alex's Chemo Pal that he was on his way, I kissed my boy goodnight, and headed for home to see my sweet girl, who misses her "brooder" so much.