The halfway mark

By the end of this week, we will left with two weeks of radiation... over halfway done. Hank has been doing well, especially since he has had the past two weeks off from Chemotherapy. The doctors plan to have a two week break after every 13 weeks of treatment, in order to evaluate if they keep his treatments as is (if they are working well), or if there is need to tweet/increase treatments. So far the doctors are very pleased with the way things are going. Hank is responding really well to Chemo and the doctors have decided to leave his treatment as is.

After radiation, we will have new scans (MRI/CT) to determine how well the cancer responded to the treatments. Hank is growing very weary of going to the doctor every weekday. He pleads to not have to go, but we bribe him out the door with various enticements. He started getting mouth sores this past week and would complain when we ate certain foods. Then this week, his lips began to swell, dry out and crack, which results in bleeding. We started slathering on the vaseline, which seems to help. Hank also started up chemo again this week. His schedule started on Tuesday, due to Memorial day, and will go through Saturday. Each day he leaves for radiation in Irving with dad around 7am, then goes directly to Children's in Dallas for his 90minute Chemo. Yesterday they got home around 4:30... so between the treatments and commute, it is a long day. Both dad and Hank were pretty worn out when they got home. With only Sunday off this week, it may be a pretty long couple of weeks. 

Corin gets out of school tomorrow (Thursday) and plans to go with dad and Hank to treatment on Friday. I am not sure Corin really knows what he is in for, but the fact that there will be Xbox involved at the day hospital seems to lure him in. Plus, if it is just going to be raining all day anyways... he might as well be able to keep his little brother company. :) 

May has been a really hard month. Between sicknesses, Hank, sad news with friends, trying to finish up school stuff, and life in general, we have been stretched thin. Endurance is a word I would request as a prayerful petition on our behalf. Strength and endurance. Faith and endurance. Trust and endurance. Joy and endurance. Endurance. 

LL

I leave you with some pictures... note the black and white scans of Hank's tumor! I colored the tumor in yellow crayon so you could see more clearly.

Hank

                                                                    Being Silly.

 Hank wears a mask similar to this at radiation each time, while under sedation. It keeps his head still as they target the tumor with the proton radiation.

 This is what the treatment machine looks like used in Hank's radiation. It is programmed by computer, based on his CT and MRI imaging, to shoot the proton ray a specific depth in order to only treat the tumor.