Why Jaymun Will Never Associate Turkey with Thanksgiving Day
11-25-06
Jaymun's last day of radiation was
Tuesday. All I can say is, "Hallelujah!" because it was a real
struggle getting up during the night at odd hours to wake him and feed him
before his NPO (no food by mouth) order kicked in. Everyone on this floor
chuckles because to Jaymun, six hours without eating
is worse than chemotherapy at times. He has a hearty appetite and we are
extremely thankful for that--he's still gaining weight right along and that
means he's going into the transplant with a strong body. Some of the nurses are
astounded by the amount of milk he chugs down in a day's time and many have
commented that they think he eats the most out of any of the patients on the
HOT unit. By all accounts, he shouldn't even have an appetite at this stage of
his treatment, but I am delighted to see him prove the doctors'
predictions wrong.
I had promised to write something about his radiation
treatments. Radiation is a scary word. It's an even scarier reality to actually
have a loved one go through it. I was leery about sharing Jaymun's
radiation experience with people, but I feel that perhaps it gives a better
overview of all the steps along the way. Plus, Dr. Firat
and his radiation team are checking to make sure I keep my word--hello
everyone!
Early in the morning, a nurse and I walk Jaymun
through the long hallways to Froedtert Hospital.
If we're lucky, an anesthesiologist from Children's is waiting for us so we can
begin on time. If not, we wait. (Which is never good news
with a hungry baby!) Jaymun goes into the
radiation room and we lay him on the treatment table.
Most of the time, he's grinning away at everyone while the "
sleepy juice"
is injected. Once he's sedated, the radiation
team goes to work. They first
strap his body and head
down to keep his body still. Then they
draw with markers
on his face to line up the spots perfectly with where they need the
radiation to penetrate. The past few weeks, Jaymun's
face has looked like an Indian warrior brave, with all the marked lines and
circles.
They then
rotate the bed
with the radiation machine, raising
Jaymun's body higher to line it up with their
equipment. Dr. Firat
oversees the radiation specialists, making sure everything is according to his
satisfaction
. (In this case, being a perfectionist is a welcome virtue!)
Everyone must then exit the room and the doors are sealed shut. We are able to
watch Jaymun
on the screen
the entire time, but it's still a strange feeling to know that he's laying in that room
all by himself, with powerful X-rays
zapping his little face.
Dr. Firat
told me that Jaymun is his youngest radiation
patient. That's never a comforting thought as a parent, to hear from so many
specialists that our baby is the youngest they've treated for this or that.
If Jaymun was an older child or
adult, he wouldn't need to be sedated. He would just lay
perfectly still, looking up at the ceiling--and
this is what he would see. (Dr.Firat believes I'm also the first to ever take a
photo of the ceiling, but I thought the view was interesting
--wouldn't this make a lovely backyard?)
The bruise on his cheek is radiated for 98 seconds.
After the spot on his cheek is done, Dr. Firat
inserts a tiny lead shield
over Jaymun's eyeball to
protect it from the radiation. I'm a bit squeamish about that part, so I've
never watched up close. The tube is lined up perfectly against his face again.
Another 98 seconds of radiation and he's done. Once the
lead shield is removed from his eye, the anesthesiologist and nurse
hook Jaymun up to a machine that measures his
level of oxygen. We drive him through the halls again in his crib and by
the time we reach his room, Jaymun is waking up
from the sedation...and guess what's the first thing on his mind? We should
have timed ourselves trying to make a bottle in record time!
Hopefully, we need never visit the radiation unit again. Dr.
Firat and his team were very kind and reassuring to us and tried to make Jaymun's ten days of radiation
as smooth as possible. We teased Dr. Firat about
being Jaymun's "turkey doctor" (he's
originally from
There won't be many photos of Jaymun
in weeks 18 or 19, simply for the reason that I felt bad taking them when he
had marker lines drawn all over and the radiation effects made him look
extremely sunburned at times.
So there's radiation in a nutshell. Now you know...
