Judith and I had some "creative differences" over blog content, so I'm pouting.
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There. I'm done.

Yesterday's radiation session didn't go too smoothly. The machine quit part way through! That doesn't give me warm fuzzies... The technicians sent him out to the lobby to brood while they poked and prodded, rebooted and whatnot. If he couldn't finish the day's treatment, he'd have to add another one on at the end - oh NO! Finally it came back online and he got to finish. Whew! So off they went to celebrate at Chuy's (one of my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants from our year in TX).

Today there's no treatment, so he gets to do homework instead of seeing this guy (Dr. Woo):



Tomorrow they'll visit Angel Debbie's church and have lunch with her. Then back to the grind on Monday.

2 down, 18 to go!

They got mail!

Wow - y'all are fast! The mailman knocked around noon today and brought some mail and a care package from a couple of Chase's friends. At least they were up ;-). What's the first thing Chase grabbed? Not the candy or the toys, but the stress ball:



Okay, being back with Mom isn't the worst thing in the world...just think, Grandma and I could be there too. But dwelling on today's radiation session is making him all gloomy so they're heading out for a walk in the surprisingly nice weather.

It'll get better. Eyes on the prize. (insert additional platitudes here).

One treatment down - 19 to go.

If you've seen Chase's AIM "away" message, you'll know that "Radiation is the worst experience ever!" He's...not looking forward to the next 4 weeks. Actually, if he had his druthers, he'd head for home and take his chances that the tumor comes back. Thankfully he has neither keys nor credit card.

Today was uncomfortable (understatement). The first thing they did was radiate his brain. The face mask still had rough edges and the face cushion was positioned so he couldn't breathe well. When that part was done, he spoke up and they did tape the rough edges and reposition the cushion for the rest of the session. His spine is long enough that they have to radiate it in 3 sections, which requires precise adjustments - don't want to do one thin "slice" 2 times and miss another. It just sounds like a lot of fussy, time consuming work. Bleah. Hopefully tomorrow will be better (and faster!)

Here's his brass brain shield:

And here's the 3D acrylic brain form:

Pretty neat stuff, but I'm not the one getting nuked.

Last day before radiation begins!

I took down a "marble madness" kit last week. There were lots of parts; cables, gears, and a chain drive motor to bring marbles up to roll down slides to the bottom to begin again. I figured it would be interesting to put together as well as a good time waster.



Well, it certainly perfected the time waster part, since the chain was just the wrong length to actually, you know, work. So I think he used it for batting practice instead.



I need some better ideas.

But he has school work, his guitar, DVDs, and the gym to keep him occupied. Hopefully the weather will change soon or Houston will take over Seattle as the rainy city.

Speaking of rain, how 'bout these parasols?



How cool is that? A Houston artist took black and white MRI brain scans from a medical book, colorized them, printed them on fabric, and made parasols with the fabric. They've been arranged on this historic house in downtown Houston near Minute Maid park. Judith took the picture above, but there are more here, and there's a full description of the installation here. It's definitly on my "to do" list when I go back to Houston. I'd love to see it all lit up at night, too.

Good luck tomorrow, Chase!

Judith and Chase seem to be spending the day at MD Anderson today. I wouldn't expect it to take this long to get a Vincristine shot, but they had to get an X-ray to find his port location, and an IV team to stick him. Chase asked the nurse if she couldn't just feel the port and stick it herself (like they did at UNC), but she said "I need to keep my license - I have two fat cats at home that need to be fed". Heh.

So he's been finding games on his phone and trying the 2 minute free trial, then borrowing Judith's phone for that 2 minute trial, then finding another game... Unfortunately, there are no magazines in the gift shop that he wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with and he's in the pediatric part of the hospital so there's nothing exciting there. Judith offered him the Highlights magazine but got "the look".

They're having trouble with their internet connection at the apartment lately, and I'm not there to troubleshoot if it's the cable or the router (since neither computer can connect, I can't blame that). Of course the cable company says it looks fine on their end. It worked just okay when I was there (kind of like my car - whenever Dad was around it wouldn't make that funny noise). They need to find the Memorial City Mall right off I-10 for the nearest Panera Bread Hotspot

For those who have asked, Judith and Chase's address in Houston is:
2400 Westheimer Rd.
Apartment 222E
Houston, TX 77098

Somebody send them a map...

I really did plan to blog last night, but I started a game of Bejeweled 2 and next thing I knew I was at level 21 with 303,025 points, 4 spinning balls...and it was 3AM. Oops. But that's another time waster for Judith when Chase is napping in the coming weeks. I know it's quite an adjustment for her to go from busy mom and teacher with basically 2 full time jobs, to sitting in a strange city without her usual mile long "to do" list, her friends, her husband and other son, or her dog! Thankfully she's pretty good at exploring (and getting lost...er, misplaced) in Houston, and she has my phone number to be her own personal mapquest when that happens ;-).

And she has Angel Debbie who has lent them not only the car to misplace themselves in, but offered tickets to a (checking my notes) Houston Rockets vs. Denver Nuggets game:



Too bad Houston lost in overtime, but Judith said it was a very exciting game and they had great seats. Debbie also got them 4 tickets to see the Globetrotters in early February, so there's some scrambling to see who can fly down from NC to hang out that weekend!

They bumped up Chase's first treatment to this Thursday, the 25th (instead of the following Monday) which should allow him to bang the "I'm finished" gong on 2/22, if all goes according to plan. He wants to leave that night for Chapel Hill, but someone has to pack up and haul all their stuff home. Hey Mom, wanna go to Houston in late February?