May, 20, 2010

Today was our first day out of the hospital in quite a long time. We all had a fitful sleep last night, all trying to adjust to sleeping one parent one kid per single bed. It was tight!!! Christine, and Brenn were up 3 times last night for food and bathroom breaks. Brenn needed to eat at around 3 am last night, and she kept up the habit today. For breakfast she had one piece of sushi, two bowls of cereal, and yogurt. She had a another yogurt, and a bowl of soup before we drove out to White Rock to see Grandma Smith. She had a nap in the car on the way out to Grandmas, and was asking if it was lunch time when she woke up from her first nap at 10:45...we made her more soup for her while we prepared lunch, which was roast chicken, salad, bread, and strawberries for dessert, and grapes, and more chicken...

We left Grandmas house, around 12:45 because Brenn was starting to get tired and really cranky with her sister. We drove down by the beach in White Rock and looked at all the really nice houses, and the really nice beaches, and within 15 minutes, both girls were sleeping in the back seat. Brenn woke up just as we were getting into Vancouver, and asked when we were going to be back at the Ronald McDonald house. We asked her if she was hungry, and of course she said yes. This was only an hour after lunch! We got back to the house, and she attacked the kitchen, she ate more sushi, a couple pickles, more soup, and 2 more yogurts. At this point I was really tired, so I went off to have a shower, and Christine, and the girls went off to do some crafts. When I got out of the shower, Brenn was asking for dinner, so it was back to the kitchen to make scalloped potatoes, ham and some vegetables. Brenn was the last one up from the table after dinner. It was absolutely amazing how much food she put back today. She was planning what she was going to have for her midnight snack tonight already as well. She wants more ham heated up, and more scalloped potatoes, and maybe more yogurt!

Beyond the eating today, Brenn was tired, and cranky. She is also really scared right now. All she wanted was to be around mom and dad today, if we were out of sight, she would start to cry, and get really upset. She is sensitive kid, but you can tell that she is really on edge. Please pray that we will find a way to alleviate her fears, and get her to talk about how she is feeling. She is talking about how she is sick, and that her treatment is going to be long, and that she is going to loose her hair, but to talk about her feelings, and thoughts is really hard. She is only 5 after all, and has trouble voicing her fears, and concerns.

We talked to one of our doctors todays as well, and got the results of her bone marrow aspiration. When we started, Brenn had 96% of all cells in her bone marrow were cancerous cells. After only one week, Brenn is down to only 4%! Her treatment really works. WOW. The test of her bone material was quite different. She has 10% of cells that are cancerous there, and we have nothing to compare that with from last week, so we will be doing another test on her bone marrow and bone material next Tuesday. It really is miraculous how her treatment has wiped out so many cells in such a short amount of time. This month will clean all but 1% of her cancer left. Most of these left over cells will be the ones that are in hiding and not dividing right now. I am really in shock at how Brenns little body has gone under such a transformation in only a little over a week! We really thank God for looking out for Brenn, and helping her body heal and recover so well!

All of Brenns results today made us feel really good, but also worried. I worry about her bone result, and only hope and pray that next that number will fall below the magic 5% mark, which will officially put her into remission! Thank you for all of your prayers and comments. We really treasure your comments, it is nice to read what you all are thinking. I try to read your comments to Brenn everyday, however, understandably, some days she is simply not interested in anything.

Scott