Our Brave Little Star and Best Friend Vs Brain tumor

Chapter 5 Home for a little while and Halloween at the hospital

It was soon early October. Starscream had received radiation for about two and a half weeks. Starscream was able to listen to music while getting radiation. He was told by Dr. Zhao that he was going to get chemo about five weeks after finishing radiation so he wasn't going to start until sometime in early December. He was also told the chemotherapy was going be high dose for several months he may need it for over a year. This was a new regimen of intense chemotherapy for a few weeks and then several months of maintenance chemo for close to over year by mouth, injections and by central line. Starscream had a long journey ahead of him. But Starscream was going to be brave. Starscream had been in the hospital for about a month and a half. He was going to be very brave. Starscream was wondering how long he was going to have to stay in the hospital. He was missing his home and he was missing his brothers and sisters. His parents told them his brothers and sisters were missing him. 

"How long do I have to stay in the hospital?" Starscream asked Dr. Zhao.

"You should be able to go home in a few days but you will still need to come back to the hospital for stays on several occasions during treatment," Dr. Zhao said. "There is a chance you might spend a few holidays in the hospital," she said.

"This was supposed to be my first year trick or treating," Starscream said.

"I am afraid you can't do that this year in town, you might catch a cold or something and that won't be good for you during treatment," Hyperia said.

"I guess the other kids might catch my cancer," Starscream said.

"You don't have to worry about that Starscream cancer is not contagious so in other words no one can catch from someone else who has it," Dr. Zhao said. "Mainly it is just a random bad thing that sometimes happens," she said.

"Oh okay," Starscream said.

"But we do have a trick or treat event at the hospital for our in and out patients, there you can play games and get treats like candy, cookies, raisins and chips," Dr. Zhao said.

"Okay," Starscream said.

Today Starscream saw Penny come into the room. Penny was a child life specialist and her job was to help kids like Starscream learn about things such as tests and treatments and other things like side effects. She was nice and Starscream loved to talk to her.

"Hello Starscream today I am going to tell you about hair loss," Penny said.

"Does it hurt?" Starscream asked.

"No it doesn't hurt," Penny answered. "Your hair might start to fall out two to three weeks after starting treatment for some kids it happened sooner or later," she explained.

"How fast does it happen?" Starscream asked.

"When and how quickly it happens is different for everyone," Penny explained. "You could only lose a little hair or your hair might thin out slowly or you could lose all your hair really fast," she said. "There are many options for you to cover your hair loss if you chose from wigs to hats whatever you do is your choice," she told him.

Starscream watched the video on hair loss from the imaginary friend society. Hot shot learned he could lose his eyebrows and eyelashes along with his hair. He learned his hair will grow back a few months after treatment ends. He found out sometimes hair grows back before treatment is over. He learned about different kinds of hats to wear, he could even wear bandanas, he could experiment with different wigs and can even have a wig to match his hair the way it was before. He learned he could also be himself and go around with no hair. Starscream felt pretty amazed by all of this. Starscream like the thought of some of the different options and decided to think a bit before he decided.

Starscream even got to try a few different options to find what he liked. Starscream liked the beanie hats a lot they were nice and soft. "I want to do beanie hats," Starscream said.

"Well I just knitted one," Hyperia said. It was a grey hat with a gold star on it. "The color grey on it is special because grey represents the fight against brain tumors and cancer," she said.

Starscream found it pretty cool. Starscream was looking forward to wearing it. Starscream was going to try it on. It was nice and soft. He was very happy about this.

Starscream was able to go home for a few days. Starscream and his parents had to make sure they had everything. Starscream was happy to be home once they got there. His brothers and sisters were there to greet him from the hospital. They were so happy to see them. Starscream was happy to them too. "I missed you guys," Starscream said hugging them.

"We missed you too Starscream," Slipstream said. Thundercracker, Novastorm and Skywarp agreed. 

Starscream still had to go to radiation therapy. Starscream was doing okay. He was doing well at his treatment. He was even losing a bit of hair too but in the spot he was getting treatment. Starscream got to see his friends and they had questions for him. "What is the hospital like?" Demolisher asked.

"It is okay, it nice and quiet at times, other times boring, but there are things to do at a children's hospital, and there are many kids there for one reason or another, I even made friends with some of them," Starscream said.

"What is going on with your hair looks like some of it has fall out," Cyclonus said.

"It is from the radiation treatment and some of it was shaved off for my surgery, and more of my hair will fall out during chemotherapy," Starscream said. "It is the treatment for my cancer that is doing it," he said.

"How did they know it was in your brain?" Skyfire asked.

"I got special type of scan called an MRI it is a big round machine with hole in the middle you lay on a bed that goes inside the hole and takes pictures of your insides, it doesn't hurt a bit," Starscream said.

"Cool," his friends said.

 However Starscream soon had to go to the hospital again. It was because he needed to be watched because he was not feeling good. He was back in his hospital room in the oncology ward.

Starscream was still get radiation therapy while there. Starscream was just really feeling the side effects of the radiation and needed to be monitored. He got his last radiation treatment about week before Halloween. His doctors still wanted to keep an eye on him. Starscream was going to spend Halloween in the hospital. Starscream was going to be able to trick or treat in the hospital. Starscream was able to select a costume. He chose a pikachu costume. "I look great," Hot shot said.

"You look very much like a strong and brave Pikachu son," Megatron said.

"Thanks daddy," Starscream said.

Starscream was happy to be able to trick or treat in the hospital. It was a lot of fun. Starscream had fun with his friends and played games. He enjoyed it very much. Starscream met other kids in the hospital during the trick or treating. Starscream met some of the other kids in the oncology ward and other kids from different parts of the hospital. Starscream was amazed there were a lot of kids here in the hospital. 

Starscream loved getting to know the other kids in the hospital. It was a was a lot of fun meeting the kids and learning why they were in the hospital. Starscream was going to go home in a few days. He was really looking forward to it. Starscream knew it was going to be some time before he was going to be better.

But at the moment Starscream was going through his treats. "I got a lot of candy, cookies, and little toys," Starscream said.

"I can see that," Megatron said. Megatron was taking a shift with Starscream in the hospital. Starscream liked that a lot. Then after a few days later Starscream was headed back home. Starscream was very happy to be home again. He knew there was more hospital stays during treatment and he was going to be ready for it.