Day 2 of Radiation

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

We had a long night with not much sleep.  We had to be at radiation at 7 a.m. and it is in a different building, across the street from the hospital.  We elected to drive ourselves instead of getting transported by an ambulance. Little did we know that Dillon would be so weak and tired that he could hardly stand....and it was raining.  Thanks goodness Nana is here.  One of us ran to get the car, the other stayed with Dillon in his wheelchair waiting just inside the hospital ....we then swept him up and off we went.

Radiation was very difficult today.  They had to stop twice for Dillon to vomit, which means repositioning him each time, which is a tedious and time consuming process.  After 2 hours we were ready to go back to the hospital.

We arrived to a sparkling clean room.  The nurse had the housekeepers come in and do a deep clean on the room.

The rest of the day was spent in bed very nauseous with occasional vomiting.....and then a repeat of the above scenario with the rain and wheelchair in the afternoon.  Of course the poor boy was about frozen because we only had 2 pairs of shorts with us at the hospital and did not expect the dip in temperature.

By about 5 p.m. Dillon was pulling out of his nauseous daze.  He began drinking, ate a few crackers, and was quite talkative with the nursing staff.  The doctors said that with severe nausea and vomiting sometimes it can take 24 hours of supportive care with fluids and anti-emetics (meds that help with nausea and vomiting) to get it under control.....so it seems like that is the schedule that D is following.

Dillon requested Nana sleep over at the hospital with him tonight....so off I went at about 6 p.m. back to the apartment to do laundry, pack, and get ready for the BMT admission on friday.  Everything has to be cleaned and wiped with disinfectant wipes and then stored in plastic bins to carry onto the unit.  They don't allow things being brought in like old dirty backpacks, purses, suitcases, toys, etc.    

Dillon is quite disappointed that he "lost 3 days of his life" by getting admitted to the hospital early.  He is angry and sad and frustrated.  Through a stream of tears last night, our courageous boy asked me if it was something he did wrong that made him have to go to the hospital early...."did I not drink enough.....did I eat something wrong???"  He was full of blame for himself. We had a long heartfelt talk about how this is just part of his road to getting better and there was nothing he could have done to either cause it or prevent it.

Until tomorrow....