Radiation is finished! Thursday was his last session and Ollie was so tired that he slept through most of it. Until the last 11 seconds that is, when the machine went down. Unfortunately it takes 7 minutes for the machine to boot back up and Ollie was stuck in the machine. The team in Radiation South was amazing. Ben and Riane went in immediately to calm Ollie and make him comfortable so he wouldn't move in order to finish the treatment without having to do the whole 10 minutes again. You see it has to be precise, so if he moved they'd need to re-scan him for 3 minutes to get a picture of his position and then calibrate the machine to do the 10 minute treatment in exactly the right places again.
Ollie was stressed and asking them to start the machine NOW. Ben was incredible, going to the back of the machine to reach Ollie's head, rubbing his head gently and talking to him about every step the machine was taking and what would come next. He also took the mask off so he'd feel more comfortable since the last bit was at the bottom of his spine and he knew Ollie was feeling caged. It was evident that Ben has a son close in age to Ollie and that he intuitively understood how scary and frustrating this would be for a 7 year old. Riane gently touched his legs while reminding him not to move. I did same on the other side. Julie was in the booth talking to Ollie over the speaker as each step was happening with the machine.
They got the machine up, we told Ollie we'd run out and then run back in after 11 seconds and went to the booth. Naturally the machine went down again! So Ben counted down 11 seconds for Ollie on the speaker and we got him out. He did this to keep him calm and not stress him about the treatment not finishing. Ben then explained to me that at the bottom of the treatment there is about 1 cm of air/nothing and we'd be at that point anyways, so there was no effect from not finishing 11 seconds and it was not worth trying again and traumatizing Ollie further.
Then the whole team (including Danika who had not been with us that day) came in, gave Ollie a gift of Hot Wheels cars, chocolate and gummy bears and made a huge deal over how great he was at radiation, that he was all done and how much they'd miss working with him, but that they were glad he was going to get well and not need them anymore. I was teary and thanked them profusely and of course I forgot to get a picture!
They also let him keep his radiation mask! Mario was super impressed by it. Abby was awed and a bit horrified at the idea that it held Ollie on the table so he was trapped during his treatments. He plans to mount it to the wall in his room. Every boy's dream! LOL
The last few days have been pretty relaxed. Ollie's been more tired thanks to cumulative fatigue from radiation so we've been encouraging him to rest and listen to his body. He's also had his white blood cell count, platelets and neutrophils go down significantly, although he's still slightly above neutropenic. Given this we have to take it easy and stay away from even socially distanced visits for now. Fortunately Ollie seems to get this and is not fighting us even though we know he misses seeing people. We're all pretty tired and feeling the effects of three weeks of constant worry due to daily appointments, so trying to rest.
Friday Ollie had a virtual physio appointment online. He worked really hard and showed his physio Allison how much stronger he's getting and his new Fitbit for kids (thanks Gamma and Bumpa) that counts his daily steps.
Abby has spent a lot of time entertaining Ollie over the last few days. One day she let him do her makeup.
He did pretty well for a blind guy and even let her do his.
One day he may regret letting me take these pics!
Hearing them laugh together makes me happier than I've been in 7 months. And when they act silly and laugh more, so do Mario and I. Laugher really is contagious.
They also did some TikTok videos together.
He just wants to be wherever we all are right now. Especially near his sister.
Abby has been having bad dreams lately and having trouble sleeping other nights. On Friday she met with the CHEO Social Worker, Sherley, who was very helpful. We also have the option of seeing the child psychologist if need be, too. Thankfully my children know that mental health is super important and there is no shame in seeing a therapist when you need to talk and work some fears out.
Her lovely teacher also contacted her to remind her that her wellness is most important and she shouldn't put added pressure on herself nor worry about September as she is a bright girl and a strong student and will be fine even if she needs to take this time off from school work. We are so very blessed with the beautiful souls who teach our children.
Even Ollie has realized that whenever he goes back to school his big sister will no longer go there and he was very sad about this. I told him when he starts high school Abby will be in her last year, so they'll have another year in school together again in future.
He's losing the hair that just started to grow back. A side effect of radiation...
It doesn't bother him, though as he knows it will grow back again in future.
Abby finally spent some of her birthday money on an Ikea vanity table. It arrived today and she had her first Ikea assembly experience. Real life lessons during the pandemic that will prepare her for life on her own one day. LOL
So we're playing Beyblades and Bakugan and trying to get organized after being away so much over the last 6 months. All is well in our world for now.
I'll likely write a little less over the next month unless there's real news to share. I have a few ideas for blog posts I've wanted to write but not had time to given how rapidly things have changed in our world over the last months, so I'll likely write a few of those to stay in touch. Stay tuned, enjoy the beginning of summer and I hope we'll have good news to share soon!
So beautiful to see Ollie and Abby smiling and laughing.
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