MIBG Begins

Oscar has checked in to his 11th floor London pad which will be his home for most of the next 4 weeks. It is a good sized room and is very will stocked with toys, games, books, paints, colouring pencils, DVDs, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS etc etc.  He also has an Apple MacBook laptop which he can use to Skype family & friends back home, so he will (hopefully) have plenty to keep him amused.

Oscar had his radioactive MIBG infusion this evening.  A bunch of 'odd' looking nuclear physicists in long white coats arrived looking very serious indeed.  They all stood well back (and i mean well back!) while what looked like a DIY chemistry apparatus pumped the radioactive stuff from lead containers into his veins.  There were no adverse reactions and he was very co-operative.  He is now 'very hot' (ie very radioactive) for the next few days, so we have to minimise our exposure to him as much as possible.  This means being in the next room beyond his bedside lead screen and the lead lined sliding door into our room.  We can keep the door open a little to talk to him but the greater the distance & the more lead between us the better.  There are two rooms in total, one for Oscar and one adjoining room for us.  There are two big heavy lead lined sliding doors which are operated by buttons; one from the corridor into our room, then another from our room into Oscars room.  Only one door can be opened at a time to prevent people in the corridor getting blasted with radiation.  We can go into his room but we must wear gloves, an apron and put shoe covers over our feet first, and we must lurk behing the lead screens as much as we can.  We also need to wear a radiation meter and record our exposure in a logbook for each visit into the room.

The majority of the radiation is lost in his urine and sweat so we have to be vary careful with nappies and even just touching him.  Hugs are discouraged and kisses are a definite no!  Oscar is a very affectionate little boy so its not easy when he's crying for attention and holding his arms out for a hug.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...  the other one of us is off looking after Izzie.  Basically we will just operate in shifts, swapping over once a day.  We have been put up for the full 4 weeks that we'll be here in a Clic Sargent funded 'home from home' just 2-3 mins walk from the hospital.  It is ultra modern and is extremely clean so we are very comfortable.  It has several fully equipped kitchens, living areas and a play room for the kids.  We just need to find out what we can see and do nearby with a child in a buggy to help the time go in easier.