The 4th year vet student at WSU who is Gabe's case manager, Katherine W., kindly emailed me these photos of Gabe going through radiation treatment on Thursday. As it turned out, Katherine was Gabe's case manager earlier when he went through the operation a few weeks ago to remove the nasal tumor; she was on surgery rotation then and is now on oncology rotation, so she's had Gabe both times.
Katherine wrote, "Here are several pictures that we took of Gabe today. He is doing very well, and received his third dose of radiation. Ten minutes later, he was trotting down the hall and hungry for his breakfast (which he ate happily)."
She described the photos as follows:
— "The first picture [above] is Gabe being put under anesthesia for the procedure. We administer the anesthetic gas with the mask and then once they are asleep we place the endotracheal tube through which they receive anesthetic gas during the radiation itself." [That's Katherine on the left; I don't have a name for the person on the right.]
— "The second picture is Gabe all set up on the radiation table. The strap across his back adds stability, the tubes supply his anesthetic gas, the blue clip on his tongue monitors his oxygenation and pulse, and the "bite block" that his teeth are sitting on is his own special mold which holds his head in just the right spot to deliver accurate radiation. The pad that he is sitting on is also his for the time he is here and has been vacuum molded to his body to keep him perfectly positioned."
— "The third picture is our radiology technician putting the final touches on setting the table to Gabe's specifications."
— "The fourth picture is Gabe all ready for us to step out of the room and administer his radiation."
— "The last picture in this set is the monitor display while Gabe receives his treatment. The linear accelerator is above him, giving his radiation. The linear accelerator rotates between doses and allows the radiation to be administered to Gabe from above and also from each side. We watch the screen in this picture as well as the machine monitoring his pulse and oxygenation from across the insulated wall during his treatment."
Katherine ended her note by saying, "Gabe has such a bright personality and is a joy to work with."
Thank you, Katherine!
Gabe will have 18 daily treatments of the radiation and if all goes well, he should be ready to come home on October 9.
—
Wow — still No. 2!
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