Beautiful things - jaylor story (peace book 4)

preparation for radiation therapy

** Wednesday July 25th 2036** 

-taylors pov- 

We arrive at the radiation center at the children's hospital where she will be receiving her radiation therapy. Her treatment team have been considering different types of radiation therapy, because aperently there are different types. I thought that radiation was radiation, but aperently there are proton based and photon based. Then you can have internal and external therapy, as well as different types of beams receiving the therapy.

we have agreed to what they called proton beam radiation therapy using image guided radiation. Proton is a more expensive type of radiation therapy, but it has fewer risks for the surrounding tissue, so what insurance doesn't cover we will cover us selves. It's a privileged situation we are in for sure, but in this case, I'm going to use any privilege I can to get my baby girl well again. It's so sad that money is the factor that gives you access to life saving treatment in this country, but that's how it is in today's system. 

They call us into the office where a male doctor is waiting along with a few other people "hi I'm dr. henry Torres, and I'm what is called a radiation oncologist that specialize in treating children just like you" he says as he talks to kenzie. I love it when doctors talk directly to her too. 

Joe and I sit down on the chairs while kenzie sit in her wheelchair. 

"i'm a radiation therapist and work closely with dr Torres. My name is Gina carter" the female in the room says.

They both go on to explain what their job is. Dr Torres explains that he is a doctor that first specialized in radiology, then specialized again in oncology and finally children. He is the person that's going to oversee her radiation treatment for the full six weeks. Then the radiation therapist is the person that gives the daily radiation treatment and make sure that she is in the right position for each treatment. its someone that works as a medical physicist and a dosimetrist who has planned and made sure that they are using the exact right dose of radiation. They work as a team to make sure that the treatment is as safe and effective as possible for the kids. 

"that's a lot of weird names for jobs" kenzie says and scrunch her nose "it is. What do you want to be when you grow up" the radiation therapist asks her, and she smiles "i'm going to be a nurse that works with other cancer kids because I know how much it sucks" she says and sigh dramatically. She has been talking a lot about that, how she wants to help kids just like her because she is knows what it's like being a patient. 

Dr Torres us a lot of questions about her medical history both before cancer and after. What treatments she has done, what side effects she has had and all that. Obviously, he has it all in his computer, but I guess they just want to confirm that we have gotten the information and there aren't things that are unclear. I appreciate that though because with such a serious illness it's important that we understand everything that's happening with her. 

"The tumor is on her liver so the goal of the radiation treatment is to make that shrink so the removal of the tumor will be easier once it's time for surgery. They want to make sure it's shrunken so first of all its easier to remove and make it less likely that you will need a liver transplant" he explains. 

Then we go to take an MRI of her abdomen so they can figure out where they are exactly going to aim the radiation. We have to stand in the other room and watch her through a glass while they are doing it. She is nervous, I can see that, but she is doing what they are telling her to get it over quickly. The machine is loud, but it gives them a good image of her insides. 

Since we are by the screens the doctor shows us where the tumor is. 

We get back to the room we were in before and kenzie have to lay on the bench while the oncologist and therapist figure out exactly where to mark her skin. He holds up a marker "this is a semi-permanent marker. We need to make a black dot where we are going to aim the radiation so we can be more accurate. I need you to not scrub the dot because that can make it go away and we will have to do the scan again. But of course we won't be mad if it goes away though so don't worry about that" he says after he marks her skin in the correct position.