Dad Update/ Boston Trip

Dad's radiation was supposed to start last Thursday, September 30. Late Wednesday, the oncologist office called and said that they had just gotten the MRI's and that they needed to do the mapping and planning for the radiation on Thursday and Friday, so they were going to have to postpone the first treatment until Monday. (Today, October 4)

Back in July, one of my friends from college was having a BBQ Benefit Fundraiser for her Dad who was going through treatment for cancer. Her Dad and her family were having to travel from San Marcos down to Houston so that her Dad could undergo treatment at MD Anderson. It was amazing to see the turnout that she had from all of our friends from college. We had folks in from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. Last Friday, I got a treatment from her saying that her Dad was 100% cancer free and that his cancer was in remission. It really gives me hope for the journey that we are about to go on!

While at this fundraiser, I ran into my friend, Alex, and her husband, Adam. I had never met Adam before, but Alex had told me that he was a big Boston Red Sox fan. Adam came up to me and the first thing that he asked me was, "Are you the one that is married to the Red Sox fan?" When I told him I was, he asked if we wanted to go to Boston with them in October. He said he had 4 tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway Park for the next to the last game of the regular season. I came home and talked to Darrell about it and when we saw that kids under 3 didn't need a ticket for the game or for the airline, we knew that we couldn't pass this chance up. Little did we know how much we would need this little break right now!!

So, we flew out early Friday morning. Reagan was great on the flight from Austin to Atlanta and on the flight from Atlanta to Boston, he slept the entire way. There's so much greatness on this trip, but I will just provide a quick snapshot of our activities.

Friday: First Subway ride for Reagan and I. We went to North End and ate amazing Italian Food at Pagliuca's . Another friend of mine from college now lives in the Boston area and had recommended this place to us and the concierge at our hotel had recommended it as well, so we figured it had to be good. It was just incredible.

Saturday: We went to Revere Beach. This is the Nation's oldest public beach. It was a little chilly out and obviously past beach season for New England, so there weren't too many people out. We wandered up the beach and ate pizza at this tiny little hole in the wall place called The Pizza Kitchen. It was a no frills place, but the pizza was great and the folks that worked there were friendly.

We had a shuttle that drove us back and fort from our hotel to the first station on the subway line. Dave drove us Friday and he said that he and his nephew were going to the game that we were, so he offered to come pick us up at the hotel on Saturday and head in on the subway to go to Fenway Park.

We got back from the beach at 1:45, grabbed sweatshirts, and Dave picked us up at 2 as promised. We drove about 3 stops up on the subway line, parked, took the Blue Line to the Green Line and took the Green Line into the Fenway area.

The game was great, even though the Yankees did win. Everyone that we met was so nice and welcoming and we even had a Yankees fan that offered to take a photo of all 3 of us! Reagan one and a half hot dogs and half a bag of Cracker Jacks. I was a little worried he was going to be sick, but he was fine!

We headed back in, got off 2 train stops before the last stop that we get off on to wait for the hotel shuttle. There was a little Italian Bakery/Sandwich shop right across the street from the train station. We stopped in there, grabbed some Italian subs a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and a key lime tart and headed back to the hotel for the evening. The sandwiches were ok. The deserts were fantastic.

Sunday: This was our tourist day. We took the train into Boston Commons and purchased tickets for the trolley. We were going to walk the Freedom Trail, which is only about 2.5 miles, but it was pretty chilly outside and Reagan was showing no interest in being in the stroller, so we decided on a Trolley Tour. The one that we got also included a ticket for a cruise of Boston Harbor. So, we took the trolley over to the Harbor, hopped on the boat and went on a 45 minute cruise of the Harbor. It was pretty chilly and windy out on the water, but it was really a pretty tour and a neat view of the city.

After that, we hopped back on the trolley and finished up the tour. Reagan fell asleep as soon as we got back on the trolley, so we took the tour all the way back to the Harbor. It was about an hour and a half ride. We got off there and decided it was time to grab a late lunch, so we headed over to Quincy Market. I got a fried clam strip sandwich and a cup of clam chowder and Darrell had a roast beef sandwich. Pretty good stuff. We wondered around the shops at Quincy Market and headed back towards the Harbor/Aquarium Train Station. We had talked about going to the Aquarium before we went up to Boston, but had several people tell us the lines were very, very long. It was about 4:30 when we got over there and it closed at 6. We walked right up and got our tickets and walked in and got to see everything. There weren't many people in there at all and Reagan LOVED looking at the fish.

After a very long day of site seeing, we headed back to the train station and went back to the hotel.

Our flight left this morning at 6:15. Reagan was a little antsy, but still good , on the first flight to Atlanta. On the flight into Austin, he went to sleep while we were still sitting on the tarmac and slept until the plane started to unload.

Our flight landed about 12:30 and Dad's first radiation treatment was at 1 today. Mom came and picked us up fro the airport, Darrell and I took Reagan and her to her place, and Darrell and I headed over to the Oncologist. We got there about 1:15, so he was already in treatment when we got there. He got out about 1:40 and seemed to be fine.

Dad was going to take his first chemotherapy pill this evening, so I will call him tomorrow evening and see how he's feeling.

We are so very thankful that we got to take this trip to Boston and definitely needed this short break before things really get started with Dad and his treatment. We had a wonderful time and we are definitely looking forward to going back sometime!