Monday, July 30, 2007

Radiation and Camp

Amazing friend we met at camp from Montana that has a beautiful son named Hudson who has cancerous brain tumor.
Goofball
Loved the balloons.

Loved the stars.
Awesome young lady that was Bennet's counselor, Sophia.
Aquaboy, loves the water.
Brooke and Desi, her newest girlfriend.





The kids and Jeannine all last week were in Gig Harbor, Washington, about 60 miles away at a camp called Camp Agape (http://camp-agape.org/), a week long camp for kids and families with cancer. We all had a great time, met wonderful people, and had a good relaxing week. Well, Jeannine and the kids mostly did. I enjoyed it but had to do a lot of driving. Jovee and I would leave in the evening, go to her radiation appointment the next morning, and then drive back to camp. It was a lot of driving and traffic at times was horrendous but all in all it was a good time at camp.

Jovee's radiation appointments have been quite easy. We wake up, drive to the medical center, they take her almost right away at 8:00 am, we go to the radiation room together, she lays down on the radiation table, gets a shot of anesthesia, I give her a kiss just about a second before her eyes close, go for a little 20 minute walk, and come back to see her in the recovery room. It takes her about until 9:00 am to 9:15 am to wake up from the anesthesia and as soon as her eyes open and everything is fine, we're able to go home. The actual radiation lasts maybe 15 minutes long. The waking up from the anesthesia is the longest part of all this. So far, 4 radiation treatments, it has been a breeze; far less stress on her and us then any of the chemotherapy.

She hasn't had any side effects from the radiation at all, even though she's only had 4 treatments. We're supposed to expect redness in the radiated areas in a couple of weeks but maybe, maybe not. So far, so good.

At Camp Agape there were counselors assigned to each of the kids there so the parents didn't have to do too much watching, more relaxing than watching. It was really nice. Tyson had Wes, Brooke had Dezi, Bennet had Sophia, and Jovee had Kroger. All outstanding, top notch, wonderful superstars. We call them superstars because they were all super. It was like a big brother, big sister kind of a thing. Brooke bonded and loved Dezi (short for Desiree), Tyson and Wes became real good friends, Sophia was perfect for Bennet's hyper personality, and Jovee just adored Kroger. It was a very, very neat thing to be a part of at this camp. We met another family that had a child have neuroblastoma, who is now in remission and doing very well. It was nice to share our story of Jovee and hear their story of Sam and see that it is possible to be in remission from all this. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Jovee's last radiation treatment will be on August 20th, total of 20 radiation treatments.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I miss you guys more then ever! You are a very special family and have definately made a lasting impression in my life. God Bless! ~Desi
p.s. Eskimo and butterfly kisses to my little Brookie!

Anonymous said...

Hello Lim family!
We miss you so much and almost don't know what to do with ourselves without Bennet and Jovee. You really are an amazing family who we hope to see again next year! Hope all is well, hugs and kisses to Jovee.

*Kroger