Eric completed his 5th and final radiation session today! (technically yesterday now – we’re nodding off to Big Brother After Dark; guaranteed to put any night owl to sleep. Dan, how could you?)

The Credit Valley radiation department has a kinda cool (optional) send off for it’s patients. Mounted outside each of the 5 or 6 radiation rooms is a large (and loud) bicycle horn. On the last day of treatment, patients are encouraged to honk the horn – which results in an even louder round of applause from any nearby staff and fellow patients in the waiting room.

On our way out, the techs told Eric about it – so I slowed the wheelchair down (used only this day because he was tired) – and was somewhat surprised when he honked the horn (he’s really not a ‘toot my own horn’ kinda kid – nor one to draw attention to himself). But, the applause was well deserved, appreciated and (for me anyway) emotional.

Thanks to the great staff of Credit Valley Hospital; we appreciate your kindness, efficiency and cheap parking rates (even if we weren’t huge fans of the $3.99 all day breakfast)

Eric is understandably tired (a common and temporary side effect) but, as usual, in good spirits. The radiation will continue to work it’s magic for the next week or two.

Heartfelt thanks to all who continue to support Eric and the family. Your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated.

So today’s radiation session wasn’t as bad as yesterday’s – but still didn’t go as smoothly as Friday’s. The tricky part is getting Eric into a comfortable position – that will still give the radiation beam optimal access to the targetted area.

Eric, as usual, handled it better than anyone could possibly expect. Watching him on the monitor, as the radiation machine does it’s slow rotation, the 5 minutes seems excruciatingly slow – so I can’t imagine how slowly the time crawls by for Eric. But afterwards, he makes a quick recovery – and today we hung around and had a (healthy) bite to eat.

Eric’s appetite has obviously been effected – so he eats smaller meals more frequently. Yesterday, we enjoyed our fave; Mandarin (sorry Kandis, wish you were here lol)

Only 2 more days to go – we’re much better at navigating the hospital and directing the tech’s on the positioning of the pillows. We’re usually in and out within an hour (a big difference from the 6 hour days of chemo). Tomorrow’s appointment is our only early one; 10 am, so it’s off to bed.

Thank you all for your continued support.
Good night 🙂

It’s just after midnight, but so as not to confuse myself, I’m still going to say ‘today’.

Today’s radiation went much better than expected. Based on how uncomfortable Eric was during the ‘trial run’, I’d called beforehand to see if they could possibly give him a shot of something for pain relief (which they agreed to).

Eric, not surprisingly, opted to try it without taking anything extra for pain – and because they had him propped up in a more comfortable position, easily managed to do without. The actual radiation only lasted about 5 minutes. Eric didn’t even realize they’d started the radiation at that point (thinking they were still setting up) so was pleasantly surprised to hear it was over so quickly.

Even missing our turn on the way back (avoiding the 410), we managed to get home shortly after 4. And perhaps it’s only in our heads, but Eric seems to look and feel better than he did that morning.

Monday is Day 2 – and the technician told us that it should get even quicker as the week progresses. Short of just shooting him with one of those guns at Laserquest, I can’t see how – but it sounds good to us.

We’ll keep you posted next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Just a quick update: Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be at Credit Valley for Eric’s first day of radiation.

I’ll update tomorrow evening. In the meantime, thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Today (Friday, but it’s after midnight, so technically, yesterday) Eric went to Credit Valley Hospital for a ‘planning’ meeting. As he’s had radiation before, we got to skip the informational video. They ran him through the machine and tattooed dots where they will target the radiation. Sounds easy enough, but it wasn’t a comfortable procedure. Eric, however, handled it as bravely as he has everything else – and next Friday, will begin a week of radiation.

Radiation targetted at the largest tumour will shrink it – and if last time is any indication, should quickly provide pain relief with minimal side effects (extreme but temporary fatigue).

Thank you all for continuing to keep Eric in your thoughts and prayers. He continues to do relatively well; maintaining his weight and appetite. Some days are better than others, but he remains in good spirits – and never ceases to amaze with his good humour, optimism, and ability to soldier on without complaint.

Thanks again for your support 🙂