Swine Flu

I was a bit nervous to fly into an area thatf was starting to have problems with the swine flu. Ben is considered immunocompromised because of his treatment. I tried to have him wear his mask but he is one after all and he resisted me. He also spent time making snow angels on the airport floor. Embarrassing, gross, and what can I say besides he's one! Fortunately we got seated in first class and had a little bit more space between us and all of the germs on the plane. Now we are here at the Ronald McDonald House in Houston and we are seeing precautions start being put in place. We are no longer allowed to have visitors in the house. They have cancelled the dinner groups. Families from Mexico are not being accepted in the house and some have even been asked to leave. Several of the local highschools have closed. I am not sure how bad the problem really is here... We will just do our best to stay out of harms way I guess.

As far as treatment goes, Ben has met both his radiation doctor and his oncology pediatrician here. They both seem like good doctors and I feel comfortable working with them. Ben had his 'simulation' run yesterday morning. They sedated him and then....well I'm not really sure what all they did because I was in the waiting room but basically they fitted him for molds that will hold him in the exact same way every day and did a dry run. Next Wednesday he is scheduled to start for real. He will go in every morning at 10:30 until mid June with only Saturday and Sunday off. We are excited to get started and hope that there is as little damage to his brain as possible. But then...that's why we travel all this way for proton therapy isn't it!