Wednesday, March 21

Hannah showed us all today how she can walk "on her own" with her therapist behind her and not really touching her. As she continues to get stronger, her balance will continue to improve also. She was oh so happy this morning!

Today was treatment #10. The doctors want us to come early tomorrow for a practice session. They want to practice and see if Hannah can be still with her mask on for a whole 20 mintues. If she can, she won't have to have the anesthesia when she starts her boost treatments (only to the tumor site) next Tuesday. Hannah seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing, even when they brought her mask in and had her put it on today. It's made of a thermoplastic, which is like a very thick cheesecloth. It was made especially for her head shape, they formed it to her face during her radiation planning when we first arrived. It's like a hockey mask, that's what I tell her. She doesn't mind it at all (yet).

I tried to find a couple pictures online of this whole process. The first picture below on the left is a picture of a girl in her mask on the treatment table. The middle picture is a more close up photo of the mask itself, and the last picture is the treament room where Hannah is every day. This treatment room is only part of the proton process, the room where the beam comes from is very large, over 3 stories high. The beam is then tunneled into the three treatment rooms they have here, and they can all function simultaneously. They call our room the monkey room-you can see the monkeys hanging on the right. The picture doesn't do the room justice, it's huge and very crowded when we go in every day. There are computer monitors everywhere, and usually about 6 people in the room besides Hannah and I. I put Hannah up on the table, her IV is already hooked to her port, and the anesthesiologist immediately starts the anesthetic, so she is usually asleep within about 20 seconds. The table she lies on extends out into that big circular area, so we always have to be careful not to fall in. I'm allowed to hold her hand and give her a kiss as they put her to sleep, so I always have to be conscious not to fall in or accidently bump anyone else in.

Today Hannah wore her Yankee hat to treatment. As you can imagine, it causes quite a stir in Red Sox territory, but that is why she wore it. Jim-one of the technicians told Hannah that he was going to tattoo her with "B"'s all over her body while she was sleeping. She actually does have several small dot tattoos all over her head and back, so that they can position the beam properly. When she came out Ron-another technician had drawn a "B" on her left hand. Of course we washed it off immediately and plan to replace it tomorrow with NYY drawings on both hands so they will be noticed when she is there tomorrow. She really loves all these people here.

xoxo
Kim