As patients finish their last Proton Treatment, it's a tradition to 'ring the bell'. Something the proton graduates are encouraged to say: Ring this bell three times well, its toll will clearly say - "My treatments are done, this course has run, now I'm on my way".
Over the course of the treatments we've seen a lot of people ring them bell, old and young. It's something you have to see... and fight to hold back the tears... especially with it's young children. Knowing what they've been through and seeing the pride they beam that they've completed it, combined with the smile that they finally get to go home. It's very touching.
Today Madi rang the bell, her last day of Proton Beam Therapy, a total of 8 weeks spanning March-September 2014, with surgeries in between.
She is feeling progressively better each day this week, actually spunky while also a tad fatigued a times. During the exit appointment with Nurses yesterday and doctors today, they're ALL extremely pleased and proud of her. Everyone is!
Madi, mom, and dad will leave for home on Friday... one year to the day when pathology came back as chordoma. Madi will resume chemotherapy in Woodland Hills through early November... three more sessions of one-week inpatient chemo treatments, with two weeks at home for recuperation between each. After that, imaging every 3-6 months for five years.
The bond that forms with cancer patients and providers is deep, spanning months of daily sessions and with others, weekly appointments. The nurses in Lundar-9, awesome! The team in the Proton Center, top notch. Every time Madi was called from the waiting area for Proton therapy her parents knew... yea, they got this. There were several very touching goodbyes.
Over the course of the treatments we've seen a lot of people ring them bell, old and young. It's something you have to see... and fight to hold back the tears... especially with it's young children. Knowing what they've been through and seeing the pride they beam that they've completed it, combined with the smile that they finally get to go home. It's very touching.
Today Madi rang the bell, her last day of Proton Beam Therapy, a total of 8 weeks spanning March-September 2014, with surgeries in between.
She is feeling progressively better each day this week, actually spunky while also a tad fatigued a times. During the exit appointment with Nurses yesterday and doctors today, they're ALL extremely pleased and proud of her. Everyone is!
Madi, mom, and dad will leave for home on Friday... one year to the day when pathology came back as chordoma. Madi will resume chemotherapy in Woodland Hills through early November... three more sessions of one-week inpatient chemo treatments, with two weeks at home for recuperation between each. After that, imaging every 3-6 months for five years.
The bond that forms with cancer patients and providers is deep, spanning months of daily sessions and with others, weekly appointments. The nurses in Lundar-9, awesome! The team in the Proton Center, top notch. Every time Madi was called from the waiting area for Proton therapy her parents knew... yea, they got this. There were several very touching goodbyes.
