The Brands: more than just words

Sunday, June 27, 2010

more than just words

I woke up with a strong urge to put some pictures here. So here they are. It's less desirable for me to put these ones up, because Caleb looks less like himself. He's not had food since Wednesday, and he's very tired in these pictures. He's lost a lot of weight, I can see that now. We know that he is closer now to being healthy than he was 5 days ago, or 8 days ago, but it's hard to see right now. I talked with Tim this evening and he said Caleb had slept straight from about 8 pm. I do hope he's still sleeping soundly. Thanks for your prayers for rest.

Caleb watches Blue's Clues on Uncle Dave's laptop. Notice the blue tube that is wrapped around Caleb's blue bear--that's the "blow by". They can attach an oxygen mask to that tube, I learned today.

Cousins Emily and Sophia (Sara & Ralph's oldest two) presented Caleb with a gift from Mike's Miracles, started by a family from their school. It was a short visit, but nice to see Em and Soph and watch them help Caleb with his present.

This is close to 7 pm last night, a short visit from Oma and Opa, Aleah and Nella. Oma and Opa have been faithfully and devotedly caring for the girls since Wednesday. The girls are strong, even as it's hard on them. They both love Caleb's bed. Caleb looks so very tired, but he did try to hold Aleah's hand. She prefers to keep her fingers in her mouth.

1 comment:

MiR said...: Hey, this is Randy from SMC. I've been reading both Sara's and your blogs lately keeping in touch with your lives and seeing how I can pray for you both. The power of prayer is truly amazing and our God is so big and so good and because of that I won't stop praying despite road blocks, praises, encouragements or discouragements that arise on this journey. Trust me, I even have an alarm set in my phone to pray for your little guy at the same time everyday. I was thinking recently about that song you posted, "He knows my name" and it's true, the intimacy of that song is so empowering and uplifting. It's true, the Creator of the world, despite being perfect and the King of kings and Lord of lords, knows Caleb's name! He knows the very number of hairs on his head and he knows his inner feelings. He created him and because of that he knows him and he knows your family better than anyone else, better than you even know yourselves. Some of the work that God is doing in Caleb is unseen, but Jesus is working and I'm going to continue to believe and pray for healing. Jesus is so good! Everything He touches is good. I ask, Jesus, that you would touch Caleb with the fringe of your robe and bring forth full healing. Father, consume this family with your love, with the grace to press through in this hard time. Increase their faith and passion for you! Take what the enemy meant for bad and turn it to good, for your glory! In Jesus' name! You are all in good hands!
Love you & praying,
Randy; June 27, 2010 at 9:00 AM

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What is ALL?

Caleb has ALL, a form of leukemia. From what I understand (here's the dummy's guide to leukemia), leukemia means that something has gone wrong in blood cell production.

Blood is made up of 3 main parts, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. The red blood cells do things like carry oxygen and nutrients through your body. The white blood cells fight infections and keep you healthy. The platelets glue it all together. (I did say this was the dummy's guide, remember.) Bone marrow is where these cells are made and released into the blood stream.

In Caleb's leukemia, his bone marrow is producing the 3 kinds of cells, but some of the white blood cells are being made wrong. These white blood cells are not maturing, they don't perform any function, and they aren't dying off. They take up space, and made it so that Caleb's red blood cells, functioning white cells, and platelets were having a hard time doing their jobs, and the production of the blasts was taking over. This is why before we were admitted to the hospital, Caleb was tired and pale. His blood just wasn't able to do what it should do.

Chemo treatments are designed to kill back the blasts. The only way to do this has a lot of extra damage (collateral damage) as well, which we see in side effects like hair loss and need for blood transfusions. Because chemo also knocks back regular blood cells, Caleb needs blood and platelet transfusions to replace what is being lost through treatment. White blood cells cannot be transfused, which is why he has nothing to fight off infections. We can't replace those ones. When the drugs are less intense and his body can gradually go back to doing what it should be doing, white blood cell production should return. We will have to be careful for a long time, though.

Hair loss occurs because cells that are replaced often in our body, like hair, can't keep up production. The cells die off faster than they are replaced. Other fast growing/often replaced cells are in our mouths and our nails. These are all affected.

I hope my dummy's guide to leukemia makes sense. It's the way I currently understand things. People in the health care profession may cringe at my descriptions, but hopefully it's accurate enough to explain what Caleb's going through. Maybe it will help you explain it to your kids. For now, we just say we're blasting blasts.

We are the Brands

We are three kids, two parents, and one dog. And too many fish. We love our city, time in the outdoors, playing soccer, camping, and making music. Our faith is central to our lives.

On June 23, pieces of what had previously been a concerning question about our son Caleb's health came together in a diagnosis of leukemia. It all happened rather quickly, after bringing him to the ER at McMaster hospital on Monday, June 21. We're absorbing this news, and trying to learn how to cope with leukemia and a young family. Our hearts are torn, but we feel the love of many.

This blog is intended to share with our loved ones and their loved ones what is happening for Caleb and the rest of us. I must say that it is possibly as much information-giving as it is therapeutic writing. Thank you for taking the time to share with us our experience. We find strength in numbers, and in shared experiences.