May 24, 2006
Radiation Day 11

Radiation went fine today although once again Aidan woke up in a cranky mood.  We ended up being at the U until 11:30 today trying to get Aidan to chill so we could head over to Children's.  By the time we got out of there it was so late that I called Cori (Nurse at Hemoc Clinic at Children's) to see if she still wanted to see us.  Not surprisingly, she was very understanding and told us to take our time that she would be there so not to rush.  We took full advantage of this and got Aidan something to eat before we headed over there.
Because Aidan was so tired today, we stayed up way too late last night by going to the game, not only was he cranky but he was having some swallowing/coughing issues and was also drooling.  We brought these up with Cori who didn't seem too concerned by them but took a look at him all the same.  We also brought up the fact that Aidan had been complaining of ear, throat and tongue pain. 
Cori said the ear pain was probably from the radiation because one of the ears is almost always the exit for the radiation beams so there tends to be more irritation there, something similar to a sunburn.  She suggested just some pain reliever and maybe some pain relieving ear drops for the weekend. Next she took a look at Aidan's throat and mouth.  It was during this exam that she noticed that he had some pussy pockets on his inner right cheek.  She said it appears to be thrush (yeast infection in the mouth.)  This is a fairly common condition in children with weakened immune systems and is treated with an oral anti-fungal medicine.  We think that this very well could be what is causing the swallowing/coughing issues since the infection is probably in his throat and is causing pain which in turn makes him not want to swallow (drooling) and is irritated by food and liquid (swallowing/coughing.)
All and all the appointment went well though.  Cori said that she thought he looked really good and that on the bell curve he was way to the left (left being good right being bad.)  In fact she said that he is doing much better than what they were expecting him to be doing.  It looks like we are on the road to our goal of baffling the medical field. 
After our appointment we headed back to the house and hung out until dinner.  Once again dinner was provided tonight.  Tonight's meal was spaghetti casserole, salad, garlic bread, corn, and cookies.  It was quite tasty but the boys did not care for it too much so they asked for some soup. 
After dinner it then turned into a whirlwind of phone calls and medicine dispensing.  I was on the phone for almost 3 hours straight tonight.  As soon as I would end on conversation a new call would come in.  However, it did not bother me because I got to speak to so many people that I care about that it made up for the sore ear I had. 
The boys ended their night with two bedtime stories that I read to them and then lots of kisses.  Then Michael headed downstairs to throw in a load of laundry while I sat down to write to all of you.  Not it is time for me to go off to bed myself.

Note
* Happy Birthday to our friend Debbie (Gabriel's mom) who's birthday was on Monday. A thank you to her amazing friends who presented her with a gift of donations to us for her birthday present.  And a big thanks to Debbie who thinks so much of us that she preferred this to an actual gift.  Debbie, you are a wonderful person with a heart of gold.  We are blessed that you, Barry and Gabriel have come into our lives.

    The Boys hanging out playing video games