MRI again

Up there sleeping with the boys again now, having been mesmerised to sleep by the lava lamp after another busy day.

P had his MRI scan this morning. This was to check his spine especially. It required canulation, so that they could put dye into his system, which he was terrified at but, in the event, was pretty civilised and the hoarded nurses could stand at ease. The scan was noisy for about 30 minutes and the ear plugs are not up to much so he did very well for it.

Today we've been getting other angles on the diminution of IQ thing. I met Sally who said that her cousin had certainly changed after radiotherapy. He either was or was intending to become a vicar and, after the therapy went on to become a City banker - he went from being a bit of a dreamer to being very focussed. Whether this was due to the cancer or the rays or the near-death experience we were not sure. Meanwhile, Ally was getting other angles from the specialist paeds/neuro/oncology nurse who suggested that the rather bleak picture of yesterday was justified but probably on the further end of what will likely happen. Anyway, we feel better for having faced up to another daunting aspect of this and can now settle back to look forward to the next one. This is the nurse who will administer the weekly chemo, which can be done at home. It's in 6 weekly cycles which we think could work well for Christmas.

It was also a day of getting a clearer picture of schooling. With the chemo happening on a Friday, he's got the weekend to recover so he may not need to miss much. But the County say he's entitled to 5 hours private tuition per week if he needs. He's been thinking of things to take into school because one assignment is to take in three things that reflect his personality. Ash suggested a picture of him being weird; fair comment, but a bit of a cop out - better to find an object of some kind, something more metaphorical... So if you happen to meet a martian tonight, see if they have any ideas.

Then it was off to Velindre again (no camera weilding Moli today) to get the back of his head moulded and to meet the radiotherapy machine - he even had a twiddle of the remote.

I have to say we're awed at the generosity of the staff there who organised and contributed to a collection for him. He's got very simple tastes really so not sure yet what to do with it... They offer to play him a CD while he's lying there but he's really not fussed on any music in particular. The staff are going to prepare him a themed wall-chart to count down the number of visits - his will be a tardis.