Home!

Nobody sent me a picture of him kissing the front walk, but I'm sure he did, right? Anyway, he was released this morning with lots of instructions, prescriptions, and a box of surgical masks. Last I heard they were watching his tail lights disappear as he left to visit friends. I guess he's not too sick yet! Really, he did extraordinarily well on his first run through, but he does get tired a bit earlier than the average teenager.

The kicker today was a visit from the radiation oncologist. No matter how well the chemo shrinks the tumor, he's going to have to endure radiation treatment too. Traditional photon radiation helps destroy the tumor, but it can damage adjacent tissue as well, so it's worrisome. We want to keep that fine brain working well for our future president...

There's a relatively new form of radiation therapy called Proton Therapy. It does its job a bit more precisely, so it causes less collateral damage. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's only available in a few places here in the US: the Loma Linda, CA and Boston, MA centers are old hands, then there's Bloomington, IN, Houston, TX, and the newest in Jacksonville, FL, which just treated its first patient in August. Have they worked out the bugs yet?

The doctor mentioned Boston as the place they generally refer. Boston? In January? :: shivers :: MD Anderson in Houston is relatively new, but Judith and Buddy have contacts there who might help smooth the way. Jacksonville's an easy drive from NC, close to the beach for restorative weekends, close to Disney World for exhausting weekends, close to the Kennedy Space Center for infomative weekends, and Mom might even be able to get a time share there, which beats the heck out of hotels for the minimum 3 week treatment span.

And did I mention it's an easy drive from NC? I wonder how many of Chase's friends would drive down for a weekend...especially if some nice aunt slipped them some gas money.

Not that I'm leaning in any particular direction, mind you.