FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2008 02:49 PM, EST

RADIATION IS OVER!

Ally did great today! She was scheduled to begin radiation at 7:30 and they took her early again today! She got even more gifts today (she got a present yesterday too) from hospital staff. (They love her!) I even think some people are working to rearrange their schedules so they can see her on Monday too.

At the clinic today Ally weighed in at 19 pounds 2 ounces. We talked about her new med she needs to be on for 6 months. There are some crazy side effects (depression, psychosis, and thoughts of suicide) but those should NOT happen with Ally. However her skin will be very, very, very dry and her lips will be chapped and cracked. The medicine is actually for acne (why would anyone let their teenager take a med with those side effects is beyond me) but is shown to do good stuff for kids like Ally. CRAZY! The other obstacle to this med is it comes in a capsule form, so we have to warm it up, poke a hole in it and drain out the liquid, then give Ally the liquid. Wow, and we thought we were done with treatments. This will happen 3 times a day for 2 weeks, then 2 weeks off, for 6 months.

We also talked about Ally's central line. It looks like it is slipping out more and more each week, when we change her dressing. We are now hoping it will last for about another month. She has huge tests this coming Monday and then the Tuesday and Wednesday right before Thanksgiving. She starts that crazy medicine December 3rd and they will need to draw lots of blood on December 17th. Our hope is it will last till then. Then it will come out, which means surgery (and another day off work..sorry kids!)

Well, those were the highlights of the day. Monday is the stinky day of mostly no eating. GRRRRRR! I'll let you all know how that goes.