Eating and Sleeping

John reports that his regime over the last few days has been eating and sleeping. As with the first round of chemo, the days following are “horrible” – super nausea (significantly moderated by the heavy medication), fatigue, and struggles to keep enough food going in to counterbalance the ramped-up metabolism of his body under attack. Our call caught him during an awake part of the cycle, slurping on a milkshake, and sounding like he was ready for another nap.

He said that he can finally tell that his neck is getting irradiated since the hair has stopped growing on his neck – on both sides: where the radiation enters and exits. His throat seems to be holding up, although his apple juice and aloe vera cocktail has been modified to aloe vera and water to avoid the acidic nature of the apple juice.

The daily radiation treatments are relatively quick, John reports. He lies down on a table and they clamp the previously prepared mould over his head – to make sure that his head is in the proper place for aiming the radiation. The radiation only takes a couple of minutes – except on Fridays when they add some time to conduct some “imaging” to assess the results of the treatment. This last Monday, meant no treatment however, since it is a BC holiday.

I have attached another of Aaron’s picture of John in his sunshine garb. He figures it may become a permanent feature of his attire – although he did not escape being ‘corrected’ by his older sister regarding the way in which the scarf is folded.