The Brands: Beginning another week

Monday, December 6, 2010

Beginning another week

Taber, Alberta. My cousin Lane sent this picture of last week at their farm.

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Help a Child Smile Christmas party. Help a Child Smile is an organization that, as Caleb says, "Helps kids with zuchinia go places." It was HACS that made it possible for us to go to African Lion Safari. I suppose a grownup might say that HACS promotes and seeks to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their family. It is run by volunteers, all of whom have been affected in some way by cancer.

We don't have any pictures of the event, which is all well and good because they were mostly just afraid of SantaClaus and all of the noise that was in the place! Typical for kids four and under, I think. It took a bit, but we managed to interest Caleb in having a balloon reindeer made for him by Fluffy the Clown, and then the kids participated in crafts. Caleb's balloon then popped, and we had another one made, but we decided to leave early and went to get our Christmas tree instead.

While we were driving there, I reflected on our tradition of getting a new tree each year from a tree farm. For various reasons, I almost talked myself out of going. But then, all three kids in snowpants, hats and mitts (but I forgot them for Tim and I), marching up and down the rows of trees searching for our tree, I remembered that I love doing that. We found a little fir tree, cut it down, and fit it inside our van with the kids. It's small. Perfect for our small house and our small kids. And now the house smells delicious. I'm getting ready for Christmas.

The kids are excited for Christmas, although they do believe that Christmas will be here when the snow comes. This morning we finally have snow on the ground. I hope it's easy to explain to them that its not Christmas yet.

It will be steroids week this week. I'm cautiously optimistic as we learn how to manage these weeks. Our church friends have asked how they can help. This week my friend Jane will drop off pre-cooked bacon for us so that I don't have to smell like bacon all week long. We went through two packs of bacon and a jar of peanut butter last steroids week. I wonder what will happen this week. I'm hopeful that the excitement around Christmas and snow will be able to fuel Caleb for a few days into treatment this week.

Caleb goes for a bone density test tomorrow as well. This is routine, something they do every half-year while a child is on treatment. It was a routine echo that found his blood clot. I really hope there is nothing that they can find when they do this bone density test.

Percy, Thomas, and Spencer are getting ready for Christmas too, thanks to crafty kids and a hot glue gun. Caleb's Christmas tree excitement was mostly for having a train track go around the tree. He says he saw it once. He doesn't miss a thing.

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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.