The Brands: Therapy

Friday, July 16, 2010

Therapy

Horticulture Therapy: being home means I can enjoy what's blooming and growing. And there's a lot of it here! This is our first summer with our gardens in full swing. Thanks to friends for helping us weed and water!

Physiotherapy: A new ride on pedal tractor showed up at our house yesterday. Caleb wanted to play outside! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Caleb or the neighbours who got to watch him play.

Art therapy: Caleb and Nella got to make a mess. Good times.

Being home is therapeutic. It's good for my soul; it's good for all of us. I guess that's why it's home. Today was my first day home with the kids with no support person in our house before Tim came home from work. Our meal was provided again, which is so helpful, especially for today! The good thing about being home by myself today was that I didn't realize it until mid-afternoon. It was a great day. I have to confess that Nella spent the whole day in her pajamas, but that was her choice.

I can tell that the kids are happy to be all together as normal. This morning at breakfast I asked what they'd like to do today (because I wanted to go for a bike ride). Both Nella and Caleb said they wanted to play with toys in the living room. And that is what we did for most of the day. Lego is a great friend.

Now it's time to start catching up on sleep, I hope. It would be good to get a few good night's sleeps in before the next time we need to be in hospital. It's the weekend, so here's hoping that the kids sleep in a bit (yeah right)! I hope you all have a good weekend.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi guys! Thanks so much for the continuous photos and updates. Not quite sure how you do it all! Continued prayers and thoughts . . . from the kids too . . . they often remember to pray for Caleb. Have a good weekend!
Marsha & Glen; July 16, 2010 at 10:56 PM
Rachelle L said...: Hi Brand family,
I'm a friend of your cousins Rachel and Cori in London. My heart breaks for you, we are 16 months into treatment for our son who is now 4 years old. The words that I most remember being told at this stage is that "the treatment is going to take your son away from you, but that he will come back". The steroids do this, but your child comes back to you. Choosing to see God's blessings in every day is how we have chosen to deal with this illness. We pray the same for you. And we pray for healing for Caleb.; July 18, 2010 at 7:46 PM
Anonymous said...: oh, I'm loving the art therapy :) that's awesome! strength and courage as you continue on this journey... in our prayers everyday!! - Michelle & Paul and boys; July 20, 2010 at 11:02 PM

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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.