The Longest Day

Last Wednesday was a very long day. Ravi was scheduled for a sedated MRI. We were to arrive at the hospital at 9am. The scan would take place at 10am. It was anticipated that the scan would last one or two hours. We expected to be by home by 2pm at the latest. Fate, however, had other plans. Our check in was unremarkable. Though usually our appointments are at the west bank hospital, and today we were at the east bank, more than a few people recognized and greeted Ravi. We were shown to a pre op room and the usual parade of nurses, attendings, etc., began to show up. We were told that the MRI scanner was empty and waiting. All we needed was the anesthesiologist. Time slipped by and nothing happened. I ducked downstairs to buy a latte and into the waiting room to charge my phone. I got back and was told that the surgery ahead of ours had developed some complications so it would be a bit longer, maybe half an hour. At this point, Ravi was getting hangry. He had not eaten today because he needed to be sedated for the scan. He was still in a relatively good mood, but he was clearly getting impatient with the whole process. For a while, he went to sleep out of sheer boredom. Finally, at 2pm, the anesthesia team showed up. I immediately requested some versed for Ravi. This is the famous “don’t care” juice designed to put even the most fractious patient at ease. Twenty seconds after the versed hit his system, Mr. Boo was feeling just fine. They rolled him away to the scanner and Robert and I spent the next two hours hanging out in the waiting room. Finally, the scan was done. Like me, Ravi takes a very long time to come out of anesthesia. This day was no different. The team was also a little worried that he would be anxious waking up in a strange place (this has never bothered him in the slightest) and gave him yet another full dose of versed. To say that Ravi was toked to the gills would be an understatement! Eventually, he returned to baseline, we got him dressed, poured him into a wheelchair and rolled him to the car. We got home around 6pm. The dogs and Ravi were ravenous.

Ravi ate all of his food that we had picked up and then started on ours. It was two full hours of concerted munching. Eventually, he let out an enormous burp, curled up on his bed and fell asleep for the next 12 hour. The following day he was still a bit dopey from all the meds, but once he got the idea that food was a good idea, he was all for it. The caloric intake must have paid off, as his weight at the clinic today reached a new high of 60.2 kg.

The next hurdle to cross is this Wednesday when the radiation team will do a simulation of a treatment for him. We need to be at the hospital by 10 am. We hope no one else needs the anesthesia team ahead of him. His team, led by Dr. Terazakis, will study his MRI and measure and figure out how best to direct the X rays. We are not certain how long this will take, but I am assuming it will take an hour or more.

With the MRI and the simulation out of the way, Ravi should be cleared to be given radiation sometime this month. He will receive 5 doses in 5 days. We expect it to be a very intense week. He will be sedated for each round of therapy. The actual therapy itself will only take about 5 minutes. A lot more time will be spent in the waking up process. Between the utter fatigue that comes from radiation and then the anesthesia, I am anticipating a very quiet week for us. If any of my gentle readers have been through radiation or have been a caretaker for someone who received radiation, please share your tips and tricks to best help Boo through this week. Once Ravi has recovered from radiation, we are hoping to take a quick trip up to the north shore. Ravi loves large bodies of water, beaches, and boats. Duluth sounds like a lovely place for a quick getaway.

I have to admit, I am very nervous about radiation. Chemo was scary too, but this is something new and different. I feel like we are starting over on our journey, and I don’t have the arsenal of information I have amassed with our chemo journey over the last 18 months. Keep us in your prayers and good thoughts. I will update as I am able. Be good humans. Peace.