Thursday- All I can say is, "WOW". I got to walk Menschi into the gantry until he fell asleep. They gave him Versed (fast acting loopy juice) at my request, to keep him calm until they give him the stronger stuff (not scotch). The anesthesiologist told him last time we came in for the CT scan we were going to "the big space ship to take a ride on space mountain" (apparently that doesn't work well for a 2 y.o. without versed), so in terms of anesthesia today, he did great! I was amazed at the team of people he had waiting for him to check that all the equipment was set up properly. There were physicists and symmetrists there to make sure the proportions of everything were correct (He had an acrylic compensator --- tells the beam what distance to go --- and a brass aperture --- tells the beam what shape to send --- that were created by this team just for him. The first treatment takes the longest (because under x-ray they determine whether everything has been customized properly and align it to Menschi's body). It's quite amazing, but I have to say while all of this was in the foreground, looming behind was this giant (maybe 5 ft) piston that was perched above the table he was to be placed on. The Proton Beam itself is quite an impressive piece of equipment, and apparently it's anchor stretches 3 stories down! This makes sense I suppose when you consider the magnitude of the devices that are used to generate the proton beam (I'm hoping to get a tour soon and I'll explain it in more detail). For now though, I did want to say, that today was a success! One down, 14 more to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment