This morning the radiation machine was down and our appointment was 1-1/2 hours late. Les did get an opportunity to actually meet Allison, the little girl who has her appointment after Les. Les noticed her daddy taking some of her hair out. I was able to talk with Les later that night about his hair. I explained that his brain is sort of like the earth (he learned about the different layers of the earth about 6 months ago in preschool). I told him that the radiation needed to get to the middle of his brain, which would be like the inner core of the earth. In order to do that, it needed to go through the other layers. His hair was like the crust of the earth and the radiation would affect each layer it touched. He understands now that his hair cells are being scared away by the radiation just like it is scaring away his cancer cells.
When we finally got home, Grandpa Martin was waiting to take us to the San Diego Zoo. We had a great time together. Les sat in his stroller most of the time to save his energy. We saw the new orangutan exhibit and rode the sky ride twice. The polar bear was even playing and I took 20 photos of him. Diving under water, turning somersaults under water, playing with a ball, walking in front of a beautiful waterfall, jumping into the water, etc. I felt like a professional photographer with a very cooperative subject. Grandpa Martin was with Les while I sat for 20 minutes just soaking in the experience. You have to realize that most of the time you visit the polar bears you either can’t see them at all or they are sleeping way off in a corner and all you see is a lump of fur. We also walked through the reptile house and saw some really cool reptiles that were actually moving around.
To finish off the night we attended the monthly family support group with Great Grandma and Grandma Sue. The topic was perfect, nutrition. I was able to get some more good suggestions from other parents and Les was able to play, play play. He likes going to the meetings.
