Bell Day

Dear Madeline,

"She's no cheap date." That's what the anesthesiologists said about you after they brought you out from one of your radiation treatments. What they meant was that they needed to give you more anesthesia than they expected in order to keep you asleep during the treatment.

Today you received your final radiation treatment. It's a significant milestone in your recovery. When the nurse carried you back out to us in her arms, our first thought was that something had gone wrong. But when we saw her smiling, and when we saw you awake and alert, my second thought was "I guess those anesthesiologists were right!" The nurse told us that you started waking up almost as soon as the treatment was done. (The radiology nurses need to start unhooking all the wires and lines as soon as their patients start waking up, at least their little patients anyway.) I think you were more eager than even your Mom and I to get out of there and get home.