Starting again

Well, it looks like we finally have a plan in place. The experts at MGH and Dana Farber have agreed on a plan, customized especially for Liam. There was a slight difference in chemotherapy recommendation between the two teams originally, but Dr. Friedmann and Dr. Grier worked together to arrive on what we believe is the best course of action. Don’t ask me to explain it yet though, because you need a medical dictionary, a calendar, and about three different color highlighters to get a visual representation. At some point in the future, I’ll do exactly that and maybe get it posted.

So where are we now? At MGH up on Ellison 17. We “checked in” yesterday afternoon for our first round of chemotherapy after spending the morning at Dana Farber, and the afternoon at the MGH radiation center. Liam had his “planning” scans for radiation and is now the first of my children to get a tattoo. (Just a few small freckle size tattoos, which help with aligning the radiation beams). So chemo last night, we should be discharged later this evening, and will have nurses come by the house next week to do labs for blood counts (trying to cut down the number of trips to Boston).

Radiation may start as early as next week, should tidy those plans up by EOD today. We’ve met a slew of new people comprising our radiation team; headed by the Radiation Oncologist is Dr. Yock. We spent a good deal of time with her earlier in the week and sounds like she gets a vote of confidence from our cousin Maura and a colleague of hers from down in the D.C. area. Dr. Yock and Dr. Marcus (Dana Farber) were on the same page regarding in the radiation plan. Our primary radiation nurse is Rachel, seem like most of the time will be spent with her. Good first impressions across the board.

We are now officially regulars; can’t go to the café without running into a few people we know. Yesterday it was Julie (Boston Marathon / surgical team), and Mary Rae (CT/Imaging – made Liam his own Bob-the-Builder pillow case). I’m going to ask for my own MGH badge so I don’t have to get beeped into the pediatric floor anymore…