School and Fatigue
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| Abby working on Science class |
The results of her hearing test were good. She has not lost any hearing ability, and the truth is she is the only child of ours that answers when we call downstairs, so maybe we should get the others tested as well.
While Abby's hearing is good, she has dropped out of band class at school as the noise levels, combined with blowing into the clarinet, was just too much for her. She got a headache in the class everyday, which is a shame because she loves band. Unfortunately it added to her exhaustion. We hope once we figure out the best way to help her get her energy back up that she can take the class again.
Abby has been coming home from school by noon almost everyday because of fatigue. We pick her up, bring her home and she sleeps for about 1.5 hours and then does pretty well for the rest of the day. It is possible both the radiation and steroids are making it difficult for her to sleep through the night, so she is not getting a full night's rest before going to school. She is often awake even earlier than Jerry, which isn't good for anyone. This fatigue is a normal side-effect of the radiation treatment, and it effects each recipient differently. Some have it like this for months, others can have it for years. We are hoping for months instead of years.
With Abby missing most afternoons at school we have signed her up for Science class through distance learning. It looks interesting, but science class is covering learning through experimentation right now, and before we can start a lesson it takes quite a bit of time to gather the materials for the experiment. A teacher suggested we could watch some experiments on YouTube, but Abby is quite insistent that she do them herself to get the full experience her classmates are getting.
Sherri-Lynn's work has given her a new schedule for several weeks where she starts early and is able to come home a bit earlier, and work on school stuff with Abby after Abby's nap. It is sort of a trial run to see if the hours work for the job, so we will see. Abby's appointments and needs are changing all the time so we will see what time brings. Sherri-Lynn's work has been amazing in their support, understanding and willingness to work around everything this tumor has thrown at us!
Abby also went through her 5 hour cognitive test this month. It is meant to establish a baseline to track as the radiation continues to work on bad and good cells. She was exhausted and may have fallen asleep during part of the auditory tests.
Last news item for this post is Abby cut her hair! And donated it. She has been growing it out for quite a while and was surprised how much faster it is to wash shorter hair.
She has another MRI and bloodwork in the middle of March. We will update after those results.
Thank you for sharing, she's in my prayers. You are right, everyone's reaction to ration treatment is different. Happy to hear that is being acknowledged. My radiation treatment side effects were three-fold.
ReplyDelete1) Due it being in my hip, not likely for me to ever have anymore kids.
2) Fatigue for years. But the fatigue episodes are further and further apart.
3) It also saved my life.
Congrats on her donating her hair!