Week #1

First of all, what can I say, it has been one of the most frightening, frustrating, and challenging weeks of our lives. Thank you all for your thoughts, encouragement, and prayers. We have really felt uplifted by everyone who is behind Brenn through this challenge.

Thursday, May 6th, 2010 Day -4

Last night, Brenn had another really bad sleep, she was complaining about pain in her back, neck and that she was having trouble breathing. She has been having pains in her legs, hips, and upper body over the last few months, that we had been attributing to muscle, and growing pains. She woke up in the morning with another low grade fever (these fevers have been coming and going for quite some time as well, but seemed to go away within a couple days.) We decided this morning that enough was enough, because she was now not looking well either. We had been to the doctor a couple times over the last 6 months about these issues, but like us, the first thing you think of is certainly not leukemia. When we were at the doctors office today, we all kind of thought that she may have meningitis, so off to the hospital for some blood tests, urine, and a chest x-ray.

Later that evening, Dr. St. Rose called and told us that Brenn was severely anemic and that we really needed to get her on iron supplements right away.

Friday, May 7th, 2010, Day -3

Brenn had another really bad sleep tonight, just a lot more pain that usual these last couple days. Her bones are really hurting her. We woke up, and tried to have some breakfast before we went to the chiropractor. We had Dr. Urban (our chiropractor) take a look at Brenn while we were in her office, because Brenns back was just so sore, we didn't know what to do. She was unable to walk, I had to carry her, she was also really sad and scared because she didn't understand what was happening to her, and we had no answers for her. She had missed quite a few days of school over the last little while, and she was missing her friends as well.

After Dr. Urbans office, we went to buy some iron supplements from the health food store. While Christine was in buying the iron, Dr. St. Rose called for the second time today, and asked me if he could meet us at our house to talk to us...I am not going to lie...I was scared. Christine came out of the store, and I told her about the phone call, and we drove home in relative silence, as we were both trying to determine how we were feeling about this.

Dr. St. Rose arrived at the house at about 11:30, and told us that Brenn had some unusual white blood cells, and that it was suspected that she had leukemia. Life just stopped.

We went straight to the hospital, and had more blood tests done. We were then told that whoever was going to accompany Brenn to Vancouver had best go home right away and get a bag packed with the essentials and get back to the hospital quickly as the air ambulance could be there quite quickly. Christine went straight home, and within 20 minutes, they told me that the flight crew was on their way from Vancouver. Christine and Brenn left the hospital by 3:30.

Samantha and I went home, were I received more phone calls than I could really handle. Joe and Debbie VanCalsteren came over to help me pack up some belongings, and Gerry and Debbie Goertzen arrived with a care package, some words of encouragement, and prayers (thank you so much, your words, and clog have helped us more than you will ever know.)

Samantha and I got into the car, stopped at Wendy's and hit the road by 6:45. Samantha ate her food (thanks for the suggestion Debbie) and went to sleep right away. We stopped in Williams Lake, planning on stopping for the night at the house I have been renting while working there. Samantha was still asleep, so I got some stuff organized, and packed as much stuff as I could. Samantha was still sleeping, so I decided to just keep driving until I started getting tired, because let me tell you I was wired!

While we were driving to Cache Creek, Christine called me and told me that Brenn had had some more blood tests done in Childrens Hospital, and it was confirmed that Brenn did in fact have leukemia....this was turning into a really bad day. Brian Hillhouse was with Christine when they told her the diagnosis, thank God that he was able to be there with her, as he has always been a very comforting and knowledgeable person.

Sam and I finally crashed at midnight in a really bad hotel in Cache Creek that cost way to much money, and was not worth the 3 and a half hours we spent there.

Saturday, May 8th, 2010, Day -2

Samantha and I got up at 4 am and started driving again. Samantha slept until we got to Hope. It must have been Gods hand keeping that kid asleep for that long...she never sleeps like that in the car. We arrived at the hospital around 8:30, and Brenn was hooked up to many IV lines already. Sam and I were tired, but we were all together. The doctors and nurses came in and told us that the strategy for the weekend was just to keep Brenn comfortable. Monday would be the big day when we would get some bone marrow, and do a Lumbar Puncture to determine exactly what type of leukemia that Brenn had.

We had so many phone calls and e-mails from everyone giving us their prayers and support, it has really been amazing! Once again, we cannot thank everyone enough.

Sunday, May 9th, 2010, Day -1

It was a bit of a nervous day again today, Christine had slept at the hospital over night again last night, while I went to my Uncle Lyles house in Pitt Meadows. Samantha and I had a really good pancake breakfast before heading to the hospital. Christine and I had agreed that we would switch off back and forth staying in the hospital over night.

Today was another day that there was really nothing going on. Brenn started her morphine drip today to try to manage the pain in her bones. The pain is caused when the cancerous cells in her bones are fighting the good cells, and replicating really quickly, so the pressure in her bone marrow gets really high, because the cells are not able to get into the blood stream at the same rate as they are being developed.

My Mom came over on the ferry on Friday, as soon as she heard that we were on our way. She has been taking care of Samantha during the day while Christine and I are at the hospital. I really have no idea what we would do without her. She has simply been a god send for us. My Uncle Allan ran the Sun Run today as well. He did it for Brenn. Thanks man, I wish I had been able to be with you every step of the way, and it really meant a lot to Brenn.

Monday, May 10th, 2010, Day 0

I slept at the hospital last night with Brenn, and we decided that we would both fast together. She had been unable to eat since midnight because of her bone marrow, and lumbar puncture this morning. We went into the procedure room with her...what a scary experience. They don't really put her to sleep, but they give her a drug that makes her delirious, and not remember anything. She went really rigid, and her eyes kind of wandered in different directions. For all you parents out there, this is pretty close to the last thing that you want to see your child go through. If you have to do this, I really recommend closing your eyes!

The results came in later in the day, and we had a meeting with the doctors. They told us that Brenn in fact had ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.) If you are going to have cancer, this is definitely the one you want to have. The cure rate is really high, however, it certainly doesn't make the treatment any easier.

Her recovery will take between 2 years 3 months and 2 years 6 months without any complications. The first month is going to be the hardest and most important. She will be recieving 3 different Chemotherapy drugs during this first month. The first is called Oncaspar which is an intramuscular injection. The second is called Vincristine which is and IV drug, and the last is Dexamethasone. We have talked to the team of doctors here and have agreed that these three drugs will give us the best chance to make Brenn healthy quickly. After the first month on these three drugs we expect to see no cancer cells left in her body, however that being said she is no where near done with Chemotherapy and it also doesn't mean that she is cancer free.

After the first month, she moves into a phase of her treatment called consolidation. This period can last either one or two months. This phase will use different chemotherapy drugs that will try to ensure that all the multiplying cancer cells are killed off. At this time we don't know what kind of drugs she will be taking during this phase or any other phase of the treatment but the first phase.

The next phase is called intermaintenance. This phase is designed to trick the cancer cells that have been "sleeping," or not multiplying to think that it is okay to start multiplying again. during this phase she is still receiving chemotherapy, but at a lower rate. This phase lasts for 2 months.

Step 4 is called Delated Intesification. As this suggests, during this phase, we will be really increasing the amount of chemotherapy that she will be receiving. This phase of the treatment will last for 2 months.

These four first phases are the toughest and will be requiring us to spend most of our time here in Vancouver. The doctor has said that if all goes well, then Brenn can expect to be back to school sometime in November. Which is encouraging to us.

The last phase of Brenns treatment is called Maintenance. This phase includes more chemotherapy but at a lower rate. This phase is designed to try to make sure that the cancer doesn't come back. There is a very low rate of recurrence, and we just have to pray that all of this works and that no cancer cells ever come back.

During this whole time there will also be many bone marrow and lumbar puncture tests. During the lumbar punctures Brenn will be recieving a chemotherapy drug called Methotrexate.

All this is all the information that everyone should need to get a really clear picture of what Brenn is going to go through. Please feel free to go online and check what each of these drugs do and what the side effects are. Brenn will be receiving a fairly low dose, so she will not be at too much risk of more of the longer term problems. When we have more information, we will be sending it along again to all of you. I know that it has been a frusterating weekend and beginning of the week, trying to figure out what exactly what Brenn has, and thank you all for your patience, now hopefully we will be able to get down to it and get Brenn feeling better, and then actually make her better.

This was a lot to take in, but the doctor and nursing staff at Childrens Hospital are all very caring, and understanding. Thank God!!!!!Thank God!!!!!Thank God

Tuesday, May 11, 2010, Day 1

The first day waking up knowing for sure that Brenn is a very sick little girl....It was a really bad day. Thats all I have to say about Day 1.....

Wednesday, May 12, 2010, Day 2

Today was a bit better. We actually got to go outside for a while with both Brenn and Samantha. It was a beautiful day. Sunny skies, and warm. Grandma, and uncle Allan were also there. What a great time we had outside. Brenn got tired after about 30 minutes, so we went back inside. We are really having a hard time balancing nutrition with the amount of time we give our selfs each day. Today my mom gave Christine and I 30 minutes to just go and have lunch together. We both wanted to talk about Brenn, but we decided to just sit and talk about life instead. We had a great lunch, it was the first time we had any time together since last Thursday. It seemed like years ago.

Brenn had surgery this morning to install a VAD (Vascular access device) she woke up crying, and didn't stop for more than an hour. She has been so brave, but just not understand what is happening to her. Christine and I really wish that one of us could take her cancer and put it into one of our bodies so that she doesn't have to do this any more. We are really broken about all the pain she has to go through. She is really anxious about the nurses coming in all the time, and the doctors touching her and poking at her, and taking blood all the time. We have really tried to explain it all to her before everything happens, but how to you explain something that she has no experience with. She just doesn't always understand.

God has really been answering all of our prayers though. We moved into the Ronald McDonald house yesterday. It is kind of a hard environment to have Samantha in, but it is really close to the hospital, and takes away most of the stress of driving every morning. I was able to relax, and check my e-mails there last night in some relative peace and quiet.

The phone calls keep pouring in, we are very blessed with such a strong support system. I am feeling like you never really know how much people care, unless you go through something like this. Thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement. it really does sustain us.

Thursday, May 13, 2010, Day 3

I went for my first run since being here this morning. Samantha and I got up this morning, and all I wanted to do was get to the hospital, so we had a tiny amount of food, borrowed the stroller from the RMH (Ronald McDonald House) and ran to the hospital. MCC housing had a suite available for us that I went to look at with my Mom and Samantha this morning. The suite is used partly as the head office for More than a roof during the day, and as much as we would love to stay there for the interim, it just won't work with Brenn needing a very clean environment as her little immune system will be very fragile for a while. They are going to try to find us another place somewhere in the area. Please pray that this will happen. Staying at RMH is fine for now, but having to chase Samantha around the house with a spray bottle of bleach is very stressful right now. We know that we will have to be doing this wherever we end up staying, but at least if it is our place, we will have a little more control over where she goes, and the house will not be so big!

April, Ella, Casandra, and Auntie Joan were here today to see Brenn. It was nice to have some of Christines family stop by to visit. They were jsut returning from Casandras graduation art show. Congradulations Casandra. My mom and Uncle Allan were here again today. They have provided so much support it has really been great.

Christine and I decided today that we really need to start spending some more time with Samantha. She really has seen very little of us over the past week, and we really need to attend to her needs as well. Tomorrow, Christine is going to stay with Samantha for the morning, and meet Brenn and I at the hospital for lunch. I will likely leave the hospital around 4 so that I can spend some of the afternoon with Samantha before she goes off to bed at my Uncle Lyles house out in Pitt Meadows. Thank you Uncle Lyle for being so gracious and opening your house for us.

Brenn had a hard day today. She was really tired, and had some trouble with crying. Tomorrow will be a better day for her. She is sleeping now, and looks beautiful, and healthy, other than the IV post and IV lines running to her chest.

Good Night, and love you all