Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 February 2004 12:50:23
The sight of catkins as I walked about the campus to-day has made me think that spring isn't far away. A bit cold, yet.
Daughter asked me yesterday why people are praying for her. I blurted out that we are concerned because the radiotherapy might (I may even have said 'will') damage her brain. She had realised that there was a mismatch between what she was anticipating, and what was implied by the way that people are behaving towards her. Our shared vocabulary is limited (words such as pituitary, gland, and hypothalamus not being readily available), so what I said was as clear and as accurate as I could manage. I've tried to explain further by reminding her of what happened when we had no hot water. The plumber had to break down a wall to reach the hot water cylinder, and then the joiner came and mended the wall (in fact creating something better, because he put in a door). So the radiotherapy is needed, to deal with the growth behind her eye, but it is going to do some damage, which further treatment will hopefully alleviate. But she is visibly anxious.
To-morrow we go for simulation, which will also be a try-out for the travelling arrangements, as I pick her up from school, and drive to the hospital for an appointment which will probably be at the same time as the treatment sessions will be.