The Brands: One Year

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

One Year

One year ago today Caleb went into hospital. Look at him now! More to come later this week as we process the many changes, hardships, and thanksgivings.

6 comments:

d said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; June 22, 2011 at 8:39 AM
d said...: "Everyone -yes, even Caleb and Nella - loves Marineland." Looks like you had a great time! spot; June 22, 2011 at 8:39 AM
Anonymous said...: Look at him now, indeed! I was thinking of you all last week, knowing the anniversary was coming up. I look forward to the coming reflections.
Jessica Brouwer; June 23, 2011 at 6:56 PM
Anonymous said...: one year... wow; quite a journey you have traveled in a year! blessings and peace as your process, reflect and pray - love Michelle DB; June 24, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Praise God that you've all made it through this year, and with pictures of smiles yet!
~Elly; June 25, 2011 at 11:11 PM
Anonymous said...: I loved catching up by reading your post. Our boys are faithfully praying for Caleb every day at bedtime. Your family photo on this blog absolutely rocks. I hope you've blown that up poster-size and put it somewhere in your house! We are so thankful to see the progress that has been made with Caleb, he looks like he is enjoying life so much. We are grateful to God for this progress. It was cool to read about the fundraiser at GSS - I graduated from there in '92. Great school.
Hope to see you sometime this summer!
Sue, Al, and the kids; June 26, 2011 at 2:12 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.