Message from Rich and Andrea - January 17th

Furry and non-furry friends
Posted 19 hours ago
Julian completed his first week as an outpatient and gets an A+ for effort (as do all the wonderful RNs, MDs and hospital staff who have worked with him this week and since Day 1). While he wasn't too happy going back and forth to the hospital each day, I think that today he began to understand that there is no pain involved with radiation and that the routine (Broviac) tube-flushing activities of the day won't hurt him either. He has been so petrified of being touched that even minor things like taking his temperature or removing his ID band could become difficult. When we arrive at CHOC Short Stay each morning, a child life therapist is there to greet us and to help make Julian comfortable. He was also greeted this week by Samson, a Leonberger (sp) breed of dog that is about the size of a small pony and has a mane like a lion. Although Julian wasn't sure what to make of such a large dog, his constant companion "Puppers" received a wet sniff and if one can interpret the response of a stuffed animal, I would say Puppers liked it. Next week, the child life therapist will bring a doll that is equipped with a Broviac so Julian can touch it and better understand what it is for. There truly are many wonderful people we encounter each day at CHOC -- hospital staff and family alike. The radiation staff seem to have a sense of reverence during those minutes when the red triangle is flashing on the computer indicating that Julian's head and spine are being zapped with more x-rays than any one person should ever have. The St. Joseph recovery nurses have a motherly concern over his welfare (and one lovely nurse brings me coffee each time we are under her care). The PT, OT and Speech Therapy staff know exactly how much to push Julian to work his muscles to regain his strength. I could go on. I ran into a parent again today who is also a CHOC M.D. Her 5-year-old son had a brain anyeurism 5 months ago and he has not yet been home. She works in the unit where he is a patient. It is a different world here.