Another day forward

We had a long day today over at Hackensack. We started with an early appointment with the Radiologist to learn about what’s going to happen during the first week when Anna’s in the hospital. During the first week, she’ll have nine doses of total body irradiation over 5 days (first four days, she’ll have it in the morning and evening, and then 5th day will be one dose). She’s brought down in her hospital bed, and then will be put in a seated position for the actual procedure. She’s in a room, but the area is open so there isn’t anything claustrophobic about it. They have a hookup for an iPod, so she’ll get to listen to music. The radiation itself only runs for a few minutes, but it’s a bunch of time to get down there, get prepped, and then switch from the left side to the right side. We learned quite a bit about the short-term effects (very similar to chemo), and then the long-term effects (little scary but I think we both expected worse). The toughest part didn’t have anything to do with what we were told…. When we were initially in the waiting room, I saw them push a very young girl (about 4 years old) past us on a hospital bed. She was clearly a cancer patient and it really tugged at my heart. I tried to hide it because I didn’t think Anna saw, and I didn’t want to start out the day out like that. Anna didn’t mention it, so I thought we were in the clear. As we were heading in to meet the doctor, Anna did see her and I could tell it really affected her. Thankfully, we had about 5 minutes before the doctor came in, so that we could both compose ourselves. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that little girl. She looked so young and innocent, but you could tell based on her lack of hair and general frailness what she had been through. She still had a cute smile on her face and really seemed content. What we’re going through really sucks… it really does, and we’ve seen lots of horrible things, but it really hurts when it’s a child.
 
After that appointment, we went over to a different building to meet with some other folks. First we met with Brenda, the lady who conducted the search. It was a pretty brief meet-and-greet. She referenced that she was pretty surprised at how quick they found someone, as were we. After that, Anna needed to have some blood drawn for some additional tests. It’s crazy to me, but even though we were in the same hospital complex, at least 5 times she had to provide ID, insurance information, list of meds, and fill out paperwork. The whole system is just so inefficient. It’d be so easy to pass that info between departments (and between hospitals), and it sure would help to cut down on errors. That process took a while just to get all the paperwork straightened out and find the right person to help. After that, it was over for some pulmonary work, then a Muga scan, a chest X-Ray and an EKG.
 
We were over there for the full day, and it was pretty action packed. Also, since Anna had another Lumbar Puncture (Chemo via spine) the day before, she was a little extra tired and in a bit of discomfort.  The rest of the week is pretty busy as well, with follow up dental work planned for tomorrow, and then a bone marrow biopsy on Thursday. Friday and through the weekend should be a time to rest, as the appointments start up after that.