The Brands: Merry Christmas

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

At Christmas, we are reminded that Christ, whose sacrifice we celebrate at Easter, came to all of us as a small baby. Many of us can relate to the innate desire to protect and provide for children, our own or not. This Christmas, I think of the sacrifice it took to watch a baby grow, experience pain, and eventually die so that we can all live. Our Father God loves us so much that he endured the pain of life and death that we can enjoy life. In the awareness of pain we so much more experience the depth of joy that we can have in Christ. What an incredible gift, and that we can share this joy together.

We want to thank you for your gifts to us this year, as we are travelling on a journey we never wanted to take. You have been the travelling companion who offers water, brings snacks, offers comfort while we carry this burden. And you've reminded us not to look too far ahead. For Caleb, you've given Lego, celebrated his enjoyment of music, and read his blog entries! For our girls, you've given them special attention, and given what we needed to keep them in gymnastics for a whole year! You have prayed for all of us, shared your stories, and been bold in shedding tears with us. We stand in awe of the community that surrounds us. If you only all knew the extent of the grace shown to us. We thank God for you.

Merry Christmas from the Brands!

This is our Christmas note for this year. By way of quick update, the girls had stomach flu this week, and with a lot of work and a sleepover at Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Johan's, Caleb didn't get it (yet). Hurray! And the girls are better now, double hurray! We got results from Caleb's bone density, and things look good. This is great news for winter sports like tobogganning and skating. Caleb had an echocardiogram on Tuesday to assess his heart function and more importantly the status of the clot. So far the good news is that we have no news. That's great! Caleb's chemo has been delayed next week because he has to go for a lumbar puncture--a regular 9-week procedure--and that will be Thursday. He's delayed because there are too many kids who have to have bone marrow procedures because of new diagnosis of cancer (bone marrows happen on Tuesdays). Our hearts break for those who know this pain.

Please think of and pray for families whose Christmas time is coloured by new cancer.

2 comments:

Aunt Linda said...: ...and we thank God for your strength during this time. God has truly surrounded you with His love and we are grateful for that. His footprints are in the sand.; December 24, 2010 at 9:26 PM
anya genevieve said...: So glad to have been able to spend some time with you all over the weekend, see the kids and be there to see you Jess on your birthday! I'm really happy the kids like their magic bean bags and for the time spent getting to know Nella and Aleah better (love the cuddle time with Aleah!) - and just amazing to see Caleb running around laughing and playing with his friends. All my love and prayers for your family especially into this coming New Year and that God will continue to heal Caleb's body and that each of you will feel Him holding you, giving you strength and wisdom and comfort in the perfect way of knowing what your individual needs are better than you do yourselves. If that makes sense... (how God knows our hearts our pain our desires - and all the things we cannot put into words - He knows that all without being told and i know I find comfort in that so often...)
love and hugs to you Jess & Tim, and to your adorable little shephard, angel, and sheep!! (loved the tail!!!) xoxo anya; December 26, 2010 at 4:57 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.