The Brands: Tis the season

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tis the season

Caleb spent some time at his friend Kristin's house. It was a withdrawal day from steroids, and so he was quite tired. Kristin joined him on the couch for a nap.

We're hopefully recovering from the flu, yet again, in our house. This time Caleb had it, though. We spent Monday night at Emerg at Mac with Caleb. He ran a fever on Monday night, a fever that broke on the way to the hospital. It probably all worked out the best way it could have, because we went the hospital, got Caleb's counts, did a number of other tests and an X-ray, but we did manage to go home again instead of being admitted (that took a little bit of convincing!). One of the tests was a nasal swab, which revealed that Caleb has Influenza A. It's interesting to actually know for certain whether or not you have the flu or something else. Protocol for treating kids with cancer who have the flu is to give them an anti-viral, which we started today. Anti-virals are supposed to start within the first 2 days, so I'm not sure we've taken it in time, but hopefully it's helpful. Caleb doesn't really have many symptoms, just a lingering bad cough that I hope will heal soon! He has coughed so hard he's triggered his gag reflex--do you need to know that he threw up in my shoe? I didn't have a bowl handy!

Chemo has gone ahead as scheduled, despite the flu. We've been isolated for our clinic trips--that means we wear a mask and go straight to a room and stay there until we're done. Extra precautions are taken by the nurses who care for us so that the flu isn't transferred. We missed most of our sleep on Monday night, so being isolated meant that Tuesday Caleb slept through most of clinic, and today was relatively quick, although we had to return to the hospital to get a prescription for Tamiflu (the anti-viral).

We're tired, but thankful. It's been a ride, but glad that we're all reasonably healthy. We've got great friends, 3 of whom showed up with spicy pizza for supper tonight. Tim's had a lot of work to do, clearing all of this snow. Hopefully tomorrow we can enjoy some of it!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: I can't believe you convinced them to let you go home again! You must be a pretty smooth talker Jess! I hope you have a TV and movies and good childlife people who sneak you toys into isolation, and that Caleb gets better soon! The rest of you too.
~Elly; February 3, 2011 at 12:24 PM
anya genevieve said...: hey Jess and family, hope you all get time to go out and enjoy the snow today!!! with the sun shining bright and so much beautiful snow i'm here in my apartment wishing i was over at your house with you and the kids, outside making snow angels and snowmen!!! (and maybe a few snowballs as well?? or a fort?? i used to be pretty good at all of that!!) So enjoy the snow and the sun and the beautiful day outside today and remember to just enjoy the 'up days' of the ride... life certainly feels like a rollercoaster alot of times, but enjoying and getting all we can out of the ups helps us all the more to get through the lows and carry us through to the next high (the non-drug kind :o) love and hugs, TTFN!! anya xoxo; February 3, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Sending you hugs...and hoping your household can catch up on the lost sleep!
~tam; February 3, 2011 at 8:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey Brands,
Hope you are all feeling better and back on track. Kristin was very excited to see her picture on Caleb's page, thanks. Hope to see you all again soon!

Rachel; February 4, 2011 at 9:10 AM
Anonymous said...: Hey there Jess,
Always reading the blog and praying for you here. Think of you guys often!
Catch up on some sleep.
Strength to you all,
Cheryl; February 6, 2011 at 9:08 PM

Post a Comment

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.