The Brands: A year gone by...

Sunday, September 18, 2011

A year gone by...

This is a favourite picture of ours, from last year's trip to African Lion Safari with Help a Child Smile. We had a great day there last year, and riding on this train was Caleb's favourite part. Yesterday, we were able to go again, thanks to Help a Child Smile. We took a train photo again. Notice the changes? (or maybe the similarities--Tim's wearing the same sweater!) Caleb's head is full of hair, his face has thinned out, and his sisters are boisterously bouncing around behind. What a difference a year makes.

2011

We had a great day. African Lion Safari is best viewed through a child's eyes, so I'll leave that one to Caleb. He had a busy week last week, with three days of school and our trip to the Lion Safari. All three kids were cashed out in the van as we drove home--a beautiful sunset drive down Highway 6, into Hamilton...

...until this black smoke clouded our view! Hamilton's beautiful (okay, beauty is in the eye of the beholder) industrial skyline was clouded with BLACK smoke. We usually only have WHITE (or maybe slightly grey) smoke! There was an industrial fire somewhere in the east end--with a nice East wind blowing the smoke cloud right over our neighbourhood. The picture below contrasts our white smoke with the fire's smoke. It's a blurry picture because I didn't want to open the van's window.

We decided to avoid our home for a little while until we either figured out what the fire was (making sure it wasn't too toxic) or the fire was put out and the smoke cleared. But, we snapped a few pictures first. It turns out the fire was in a scrap metal yard. Several fire crews were called out, and they extinguished the fire within the hour, and the smoke drifted slowly over the mountain, landing on unsuspecting mountain-dwellers. We returned home with little incident, after a nice quiet drive with sleeping kids.

3 comments:

anya genevieve said...: how great is it to see the pictures from this year. hope really is something we need to hold on close to and its so good to be able to look back on time and see how that hope blossomed. gives us strength to hope for tomororw. was so good to see the kids for a bit the other day when i was at my parents. i had a great time sitting reading a story, bathroom trips and playing with them in the front yard - your kids are absolutely a delight; they're so sweet and affectionate and just all over well rounded kids. seeing Caleb being the 'old Caleb' was just amazing too and i loved all the hugs i got from all 3, with some super special attention from my dear little pixie Nella Mae :) xoxoxo; September 19, 2011 at 6:45 PM
anya genevieve said...: how great is it to see the pictures from this year. hope really is something we need to hold on close to and its so good to be able to look back on time and see how that hope blossomed. gives us strength to hope for tomororw. was so good to see the kids for a bit the other day when i was at my parents. i had a great time sitting reading a story, bathroom trips and playing with them in the front yard - your kids are absolutely a delight; they're so sweet and affectionate and just all over well rounded kids. seeing Caleb being the 'old Caleb' was just amazing too and i loved all the hugs i got from all 3, with some super special attention from my dear little pixie Nella Mae :) xoxoxo; September 19, 2011 at 6:48 PM
Hannah & Ryan said...: Jess - your family is so beautiful! And so great to see what a difference a year makes - praying for God's continued hand of healing and strength.; September 28, 2011 at 1:44 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.