Meeting the Pope

Welcome to the world of radiation! We have officially completed 4 of our 14 radiation treatments. Dr. Modak decided that we should NOT do radiation to Eli’s legs, so only his abdomen is getting radiated. It takes about 10 minutes to get him all lined up with the lasers and his tattoos, we all step out of the room for exactly 2 minutes while he gets radiated, then it’s over! The first round is around 8:35am and the second round of the day always depends on their schedule, but is typically at 3pm. It’s so fast, they can typically just squeeze us in between other appointments they have.

Eli cried a bit the first time when he realized I had to leave him alone in the room, but it was so incredibly fast, that for the last three sessions he has just hopped up on the table and said, “Let’s see how fast we can do it this time.” The people in radiology are awesome, they are used to working with kids and trying to make it a fun experience. Eli only complains about going if we have to stop doing something fun to run to the hospital to do our afternoon session.

They warned us that nausea would be a side effect. We didn’t know how long it would take to set in, but we have been pre medicating him with Zofran, just in case. Last night, after only 2 treatments, Eli was complaining that his tummy hurt, but it only lasted a short time. Today he seems to be just fine. He already needs to be eating better since he’s down to 32 pounds, so please pray that he doesn’t get so nauseous that he stops eating!

Several of you subscribe to our YouTube channel and already figured out that we had a last minute opportunity to see the Pope up close and personal on Saturday night. Here’s what happened. We were sitting in the dining room talking with other families after dinner and a House Staffer came up and said, “The 19th Precinct is here offering to take people to see the Pope make an appearance, but they are leaving in 3 minutes, so you have to go NOW if you want to go.” Lacey and I looked at each other and I said, “Why not? He’s the second most recognized person in the world, let’s see somebody famous!” We were so rushed out the door that Lacey didn’t have time to change her shoes, so she ended up meeting the Pope in her slippers. 🙂

We loaded into the van and were whisked away to the place the Pope was staying at on East 72nd and Madison Ave. After going through a security check and walking by a few hundred NYPD officers and secret service agents, we were ushered to the front of the line where the Pope was going to come out. The 19th Precinct made sure that all of the Ronald McDonald House kids got to the front of the line, so Lacey and Eli were at the very front against the barricade and Isaiah and I were a row back. SWAT was on the rooftop of every building and I was in awe of the amount of security on that one city street. This is when I realized why some people in NYC were so upset at the amount of money the city was spending on protecting the Pope. The argument is that they should have used the money to feed the homeless or fund cancer research instead of bringing the Pope here. I personally think that’s just an argument that people use to get other people all riled up. As soon as you ask them why they bought a big screen TV instead of donating money to the Salvation Army, they use the great argument, “Well that’s a completely different situation.”

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