Well our day started out waiting for our friends to arrive from Vernon, Scott and Elaine left at 6am to head to PG and the girls and I just hung out relaxing. At about 10 as I was coming down the stairs I heard the high pitch scream that no parent wants to hear from their child. As I sprited to the play room I saw Samantha sprawled out on the cement tile floor holding her head head screaming. Upon first look it appeared that Sam had simply slipped and had a small bonk as there was no evidence of a serious head injury. After about 45 min it was evident that Samantha was not herself, so off to the ER we went. It turns out that Samantha does have a significant concussion. The nurses and doctor monitored her for approx. 4.5 hours determining that is was okay for us to return to RMH on the agreement that I bring her back for a CAT scan if she continues to vomit, act differently, breath funny, and all the other things that come along with being concussed. Sam was happy to escape the confinement of her little room and head back to the house.

During the time Sam and I we at the Hospital Brenn hung out with her friend Bethanee while Theresa got to know the house a bit. From the pictures I was shown Brenn and Beth had a great time playing and enjoying each others company, it's been a long 4 months for them as they are use to seeing each other a few times a week. I am really happy that Brenn was able to have the comfort of her best buddy around for the day. At about 5 Brenn started to fade and said goodbye for the evening to her friend, we will see them again tomorrow for a day of fun.

We had a fantastic BBQ dinner put on by a Volunteer who was able to secure a significant donation of backyard landscaping and terrific furniture for the house this summer. Kelly's goal for the BBQ was to thank those who donated their time, energy and funds to provided Ronald McDonald House with a fantastic summer atmosphere while providing a safe environment for the children. She is truly a gift to the house as her love for the house and individuals in it has no boundaries. Okay my heart is full now, time for a relaxing bath and into bed........

PS. Scott and Elaine made it safely to Prince George, I am hoping that Scott has an opportunity to relax and gets some much needed rest over the next few days.

Wow this is the 100th post on the blog. What have we written, the last 4 months have been jumbled around in my brain to equal one big blur. Some parts are burned into my brain and other days, weeks I can honestly say I have no clue as to what happened......it's a good thing that Scott has been so diligent with the blog, all I have to do is scroll back and there I have it, exactly what happened and when. This blog has been fantastic for us, we've been able to share our journey with all our loved ones, friends, co-workers, class mates, and the community of Prince George, we have truly been blessed with incredible support from you all we feel it everyday. Thank you!!!!! OK so what's been happening the last two days................

We had a family dinner for Sam's birthday at Uncle Allan's and Auntie Nancy's on Sunday afternoon it was very low key and relaxing. Sam quite enjoyed her dinner and cake.

Today Brenn and I headed off to the hospital for blood work and to have a check up between phases, she did an amazing job staying brave for her arm poke, as she would rather get accessed through her VAD instead of drawing blood through her arm. Anyways she did great. We hung out in clinic to wait around for the word that we could head back to RMH. The Doctor and Nurse are amazed as to how great Brenn looks and are really pleased with her energy levels and counts. So we went back to the house gathered up the rest of the family and headed to Stanley park for a family bike ride. Brenn rode tandem with Scott, I had Samantha in a bike trailer and Scott's mom Elaine rode a granny bike, we had a fantastic time riding the sea wall taking in the salty sea air. The smell of the ocean is an amazing comfort to the girls and I, we always seem to just relax and enjoy whatever is happening around us. Too bad none of us took a picture it was a great afternoon :) We came back to RMH had an early dinner, the girls played with there friends and had an enjoyable evening. We will all be heading to bed early tonight as Scott and Elaine will be going to PG tomorrow morning for a short trip. The girls and I are excited to have a girls week, lounging around in our jammies, hanging out with friends that are coming to visit and possibly a small spa day to get our nails done.........happy times :)

It's been a few days, and we have been very busy. Grandma has been here for Samanthas birthday since Tuesday, and we have all been having a great time together. After the birthday party on Tuesday we all had a great sleep. Wednesday was a really nice day here, and we all decided to go out to Bunsen Lake so that the girls could swim and I could go for a run around the lake in preparation of running the Frosty Mountain Trail Run is September. The run around Bunsen is pretty difficult, up and down, and pretty exposed. The heat on Wednesday was quite oppressive to run in, and I eventually ran out of water for the first time ever during a run, but I was only about 1.5 Km from the end, so it wasn't so bad. Christine, Mom, Uncle Allan, Brenn, and Samantha all played at the beach while I had my run. They all got wet, and had fun playing in the water. When I got back from my run, they wanted to continue playing with me, for a little while before we had to leave. We had planned on making it home for dinner, but once we hit a traffic jam, we knew that we would have to go out for dinner so that the girls could get some food into their stomachs before they fell asleep. We ended up going for a great dinner at Milestones and made it home well after bed time. In hindsight, we should have taken Uncle Allans suggestion of going to his house for pizza, but we thought that we would be able to make it back in time. Once Samantha fell asleep in the car, we knew we had to stop.

Thursday, we played around at the house for the morning, and then headed down to Langley with Mom so that she could tour the prize home for the Childrens Hospital Lottery, and buy some tickets. It was our third time out to see the house, and it is still pretty fun to go look around. We have a lot of time on our hands some days, and it is fun just to go and do something that is free, and kills a lot of time. After we left the house, we stopped at one of the strip malls in Langley city, and walked around for a while before grabbing a bite to eat and going back home for another night. It was a really relaxing day all in all, and I felt quite refreshed after it. It was nice to just spend some time with the family, and enjoy each others company.

Friday was a bit of a difficult day. The girls were getting into some trouble, and having a hard time listening. We ended up all of us upstairs in our room, cleaning and organizing in preparation for me going home again in a few days. We are trying to get some stuff up to Prince George that we don't really need while I have the chance. My Mom and I will be travelling up to Prince George on Tuesday for a few days. We will likely be travelling back down on Friday, or Saturday. It was really good to get a lot of the extra stuff that is just to much to store here back home so that the kids will really be able to get into it and play with the stuff that they have here. Once we got settled down on Friday, the rest of the day went really well. Chad and Joanne will be heading home for good tomorrow, and we had been planning a night out for the last week or so. My Mom watched the girls, feeding them dinner, and putting them to bed to give us a greatly appreciated night out. We went to Shabusen Sushi, as they both really wanted to try out the Korean bbq. Once we were finished a great all-you-can-eat dinner, we headed down to Granville Island for some theater sports at the Improv Theater. It was really quite funny, and we had a great time. I have never been to a comedy show quite like it, and the format was really good. The crowd was involved in every part of the show, and it really made it fun. We ended up staying and watching the 11:45 show, so we got home a bit late, but we really had a fun time.

Today, again, we spent the morning, just hanging out around the house, and playing with the girls. My friend Bruce came down from Vernon to see us this afternoon. It was really special to see him. We have a very tight connection with one another, and it is always really great to see him. He has an amazing ability to level both Christine and I. We gave him the grand tour of the house, and made him some lunch before him and I headed down to Stanley Park for a round of pitch and put. We used to go to the pitch and put beside out house in Burnaby when we lived together all the time, so it was quite the day. We had an incredibly good time, and I really wish that we would get more time together more often, but that is the way things go I guess. It was wonderful to see him, and the kids were really happy to see him as well. We made some tentative plans to see each other here again in November, so hopefully we will be able to get together again then.

Things are a bit melancholy around the house today. We have found out in the last two days that two of the of the long term families will be heading home for good this week. We have really become close to both of the families, and they will really be missed. We all live in this crazy little bubble where every family has a major illness with one of their children, and we are all able to talk openly about them. It is a comfortable environment, but a strange one, and it is always sad to see one of the families go. We all want to go home, and re-join our normal lives, but when someone else goes, it is kind of scary. We are all so close to medical attention when we need it, and it is always scary to go farther away than our comfort zone. We of course wish both families well, and will miss their presence in the house. Seeing someone leave is sad, but it also brings you hope that someday that will be you!

Scott

The last couple of days have really been busy, and fun for the girls. Yesterday, we had Brenns last round of Chemo for the interim-maintenance phase of her treatment, so for the last two weeks of this phase, we have to go for a blood test next week, and a remotely possible blood transfusion, then another week with nothing at all to do at the hospital before September 8th. Our doctor strongly encouraged us to go and do something really fun over the next couple of weeks, because they will be the last weeks that we will be able to go and do something before things start to get tough again. Luckily for us, he also gave Brenn the go ahead to go into a public pool for the first time this summer, so all Brenn wants to do is go to the water slides, and the PNE (which RMH just gave us tickets to today). We may head back up island for a couple of days again, not really sure how much time we will actually get, but time will tell.

Once we were done at clinic yesterday, we came back to RMH to retrieve Samantha, and then headed down to Granville Island to spend an incredibly relaxing day with my boss Ian, and Cora. They are such nice people to talk to, and spend some time with away from the work environment. Christine and I have really felt very supported by Ian since we found out that Brenn had Leukemia, and truly every time one of the kids is sick since I started working with Centre City Electric. We are very blessed to have such a great boss, who is motivating when he needs to be, and also your friend, and supporter when you need him to be, we are truly blessed. Ian and Cora took Brenn and Samantha birthday shopping yesterday (as it was Sams birthday today), and sent Christine and I off for some very treasured alone time. It is such a rare treat to spend any time alone together right now, that we immediately relaxed, and just talked about some of the many things that we never have a chance to talk about. After about a half an hour, we saw Ian holding Brenns hand, and Cora holding Samanthas hand as they crossed the street to where we were sitting, and it almost brought tears to Christines eyes. It was really nice to see the kids so comfortable with them in such a busy environment.

As I said, today was Samanthas birthday, and it was a typical 3 year old really busy day. We made french toast for Breakfast, and my Dad and Marion arrived while I was cooking for a couple hour stop over on their way home from Disneyland. Once they were on their way, some of the craft girls came and made cupcakes with all the kids for Sams birthday, while I snuck out of the house for some supplies. By the time I made it back from Costco, Christine and the girls had already eaten lunch. My Mom arrived shortly after I got home, and the rest of the day was dedicated to Samanthas birthday party. All the kids from the house participated, and I think I am going to need to rent a pretty big truck to drive home when this is all done. Samantha got a lot of stuff for her birthday, and was really happy with each and every gift. Everyone was very thoughtful in their gifts, but there are a lot of them.

Brenn had a really hard day emotionally though. She had a great time playing with Samantha, and was really excited about her birthday. Brenn bought Sam a little pet-pet guinea pig for her birthday, and really wanted one for herself as well. I went out last night, and bought one for Brenn as well, because sometimes Brenn gets upset when her sister gets a lot of things, and she doesn't. It turned out to be a really great idea, because, she really wasn't feeling great today, and having that to give her made her feel a little better for a while today. I feel quite bad for her when she is having these emotions. It is so hard for her to deal with a lot of the things that she has no control over, that it makes her really sad sometimes. It is really hard for us all, it breaks Christine and my hearts, and Brenn is always up and down, and it confuses Samantha, and makes her cry sometimes, because she just doesn't understand what is happening. We talked to one of our doctors the other day, and he is going to set up an appointment with a psychologist for us. We are really hoping that this will help Brenn. The last thing that I want when Brenn is all done this intensive phase of treatment is for her to be overly emotional because of some unresolved issue that she hasn't been able to talk to us about, or realize that it is happening. She is after all a 5 year old girl, with 5 year old emotions, and fears. Please continue to pray for Brenn, we really just want her to be as happy as she can through all of this, and if she is struggling like this, it really is heart wrenching.

Scott

We started the morning off late for the horse show. For some reason, the alarm did not go off this morning, so we woke up about 30 minutes late. Today was the day the Brenn and Samantha were going to ride some horses in the show, so we were in a hurry right from the start of the day. We quickly dressed the kids, and got some breakfast into bed, and jumped into the car for a really quick trip to Cloverdale. We made it there with 8 minutes to spare, no thanks to all the red lights, but we made it. We were able to get the girls up onto the horses for a few minutes before they had to go into the ring, and we were all happy to see them get a little bit of practice before. Both girls were extremely excited about riding in the ring today. It was the first time that they were able to participate in one of Grandpa Dales horse shows.

After the horse show, we took the girls to Coquitlam Center so that Brenn could buy Samantha a birthday present. After some lunch, Brenn and I left Christine and Samantha and went shopping. We ended up shopping for a couple of hours, as Brenn likes to look at every possibility before she actually picks something out. We had a really good time looking for a present, and had some great Dad and daughter time. After we were finally done at the mall, we headed off to my Uncles house to discuss our upcoming race, and spend the afternoon with them and enjoy some great dinner there as well. We spent the entire day outside of the house today, and I think that we all feel quite a bit more relaxed now. We have a clinic day tomorrow, which will be the last clinic appoitment for this round, and then we will take a 2 week break before starting our last and most intence round. It almost seems like we are starting to make some progress here. about 3 more months, and we can finally come home...eveyday it's closer and closer. There will be snow on the ground in Prince George before we get there, but we are certainly looking forward to spending some time together at our own house during the holiday season. There is still a lot of time for us to continue enjoying our family that lives here, and do some more tourist type things with the girls while we are here, but home sure looks good right now.

Scott

So, as I mentioned in our last blog a couple days ago, Christines Dad has arrived in town with some of his horses for a big horse show in Cloverdale. We went out to the horse show the last 2 days straight, and the girls are really happy not only to see Grandpa Dale, and Grandma Mimi, but also the horses. They are going to get the chance to actually ride a horse in the horse show on Sunday morning. They will be taking part in the 'lead-line' class, and both are super excited. They have both been wearing their pink cow girl boots, and showing them off to everyone. They have been quite funny.

Brenn has been having some trouble sleeping over the past few nights, so much so, that Christine and I have started to become worried about her health. We called the clinic yesterday to find out what we should do about it. Some of her drugs make her have some trouble sleeping, so they ended up suggesting that we try to give her Melatonin. This is a natural supplement, that helps with falling asleep, but not necessarily with staying asleep. We gave it to her last night, and she had the best sleep that she has had for months. As a result she was in a much better mood today, without so many mood swings. Thank God that the doctors have these little tricks up their sleeves. We only want Brenn to be as comfortable and happy as possible, and when she is tired, things never go well. She simply cannot keep herself under control emotionally. I know that a lot of kids throw temper tantrums, and get upset when things don't go their way, but this is quite a lot different from Brenns normal emotional state. She has always been a pretty under control kid, and we are struggling to give her the normalcy that she needs to keep herself level.

It is Samanthas birthday on Tuesday, and we are happily getting prepared for a big party. The house is providing dinner, and cake, as well, they are giving her a birthday present. There is a group of girls that usually come in on Thursday mornings that are coming on Tuesday morning to make cupcakes with the kids, and we are planning on a couple different things for the afternoon. We have included Brenn on all of the planning for Sams birthday, because she really wants to throw a party for Sam. It has been really fun getting everything ready, and we want to make the day really focussed on Samantha, as she has been down here with us from the start, and all the focus has been on Brenn. I really hope that Samantha has a really great day.

Christine has been watching the girls in the morning for the past couple of days as I am out for runs. I am currently trying to push myself to see if I am going to be ready to do a 27 km race up and back down a mountain outside of Vancouver. Yesterday I ran a really hilly 11km, this morning I ran the same route twice for a little over 21 km. So far the test on myself is going well. Originally, I was going to take a rest day tomorrow, and then run 30 km on Sunday morning as my final run on my test, but I have had to bump it up a day, so will be running tomorrow morning. I am really looking forward to the run in the morning, it will be my longest run of the year so far, and for some reason, it kind of excites me. If I can do the run tomorrow, which I am sure that I can, I will be running the race with my Uncle in mid September. This will be the first race that we have run together in quite some time, so I am really looking forward to just spending the time with him, and having a great time at the race. I am hoping that we will be able to make a weekend out of it with my family, as long as Brenn is feeling okay.

Scott

We all finally had enough of living with so many people on Sunday, that we decided that it would be very beneficial to our mental health to book out of here for 2 nights as of Monday morning. We all just needed to spend some time together away from everyone, and enjoy each other alone for a little while. RMH has really been a great place for us, but after this length of time, I think that we all just needed to take a step back, and have some time for ourselves. We found a place to stay on the Sunshine Coast, and went and enjoyed some peace and quiet, and some dinners cooked in relative peace in a tiny little kitchen with only 2 burners, and one really little sink. We had a great time, and I really have to thank God for giving us the opportunity to be able to do that, I really needed a break!

Brenn has been doing quite well. Sunday was a bit of a down day for her, but it was two days after Chemo, and we have come to expect that it will be a bad day every time. Monday she was feeling quite a bit better, and was able to run and play at will again. Tuesday, we had been on the Sunshine Coast for a day, and by the afternoon, Brenn was starting to have trouble dealing with her emotions. Today was just a continuation of yesterday afternoon, and we had a really tough morning with her, but after a long rest on the ferry home, and another good rest in the car on the way home from the ferry, she started to feel better, and started to play again. Both Brenn and Samantha were really tired by tonights bedtime though, and during dinner, they both started asking to go to bed. It was really strange for them to want to go to bed since it was one of the boys birthdays today, and they both really want to be involved in the gift opening and cake eating. However, as it turned out, they were both ready for bed as soon as they were done their dinner. It was already past their bedtime, so I took them upstairs, read them a book, and got them into their beds. I am pretty sure that they were asleep before I got out of the room tonight, and I am really hoping that they both get a really great sleep so that they will both feel better tomorrow. It was really hot in Sechelt over the past couple of days, and it really took the energy out of us.

Christines Dad arrived in Cloverdale today, they are preparing for a horse show out there, and we are going to go out and see them tomorrow afternoon, once they have had a chance to get set up. The kids are really excited! They love all of Grandpa Dales horses, and are really looking forward to a horsey ride. We of course had to clear it with the doctors before we were going to go out there, but he says as long as we wash Brenns hands a lot, there should be no problem. It should be really fun, we have been to this show once before in Cloverdale, and while horses are not my favorite, the kids really have a good time, so how could i not enjoy myself. It should be really great.

Scott

Weekend in a nutshell.......Yesterday had a BBQ during the day put on by a family that is closely connected to the house. It was quite fun, the kids all played with the volunteers playing in the water making sand castles in the sandbox and riding bikes. The afternoon ended in a water fight that of course Scott started, it was great to see all the little (and big) kids running around throwing water without a care in the world :) The girls and I stuck around the house for the rest of the evening while Scott took a much needed break and spent sometime with friends and his cousin. Today we didn't do much as it was so hot outside, the little we did venture out caused the girls to overheat and become whinny and short tempered....so we spent most of the day just hanging out with the people in the house. All in all a good weekend with no bumps and lots of relaxation...just the way we like it :)

It was a good, but kind of difficult day today. We started the morning really early so that we could get Brenn fed before 7 am because she was scheduled for a lumbar puncture around 12 today. When we went to the hospital, we did all of the standard stuff. We had Brenn weighed, and thank God, she is still exactly the same weight as she was last Friday, measured, blood pressure, and temperature before heading into a room to get her accessed. Brenn has become so good at getting her line installed that she actually helps the nurses, telling them what she likes, and what she doesn't like. As soon as they have accessed her, she pretty well takes over now. Today, she drew her own blood, and then flushed and hep-blocked her line so that we would be able to leave her accessed, and ready to go if her counts came back in the acceptable range. When we did get her blood counts back, they came back incredibly good. She is as close to normal counts as she has been since we have been here across the board. We were thrilled when we found this out. Yesterday was kind of a hard day for Brenn, she just seemed a bit out of sorts, and we were a little worried about today because of her behavior yesterday. When we got her counts back, we started her on IV fluids, which again, Brenn hooked up herself, and then waited another hour or so before heading into the procedure room right at the stroke of 12...these guys are really good at the clinic! Brenn had her LP done, and Methotrexate injected into her spinal fluid during her procedure today, which we have done many times now, and everything went really well. We left the procedure room for our 2 hours of Brenn laying down and drinking coffee (I am telling you it is really weird ordering a soy vanilla late from second cup for a 5 year old, but it's what the doctor ordered, and what Brenn likes). While we were in her room, they came and gave her her dose of IV Methotrexate, and Vincristine so that we would be able to go as soon as Brenn was able to get up. It worked out really well, as soon as the Vincristine was done, we had time to have her de-accessed, and we were on the road.

By the time we got home, we were all really tired, and we all just needed a break. We had some lunch, and kind of sat around and played for the rest of the afternoon, before going to the grocery store, and getting taco fixings. Brenn was starting to feel a little sick around dinner time, but we gave her more of her anti-nauseant before putting her to bed. I will likely give her another dose sometime around midnight, and again tomorrow all day, and hopefully she will be feeling all right tomorrow as we are having a big barbecue put on by one of the RMH donor families tomorrow afternoon. The kids are really excited as this event has been hyped up by the staff here. There is going to be games, face painting, food, junk food, and crafts to do. it sounds like a really great day for the kids tomorrow. Brenn, as long as she is feeling okay, will really get a lot out of tomorrow, as she really seems to thrive when there are a lot of new things to do that are within her comfort zone.

Samantha went off with Uncle Allan today. Again I am not really sure what we would do without Uncle Allans undying support. Taking Samantha to the clinic would be really impossible, and if it were not for Uncle Allan, one of either Christine or myself would have to miss clinic each time, and there is simply too much information given to us during clinic that would be to hard to tell the other person, and make it harder for us to care for Brenn. Samantha and Uncle Allan went down into Richmond of the skytrain, and the bus to yet another really cool water park. Uncle Allan taking Sam to the water parks all summer has been really great for Sam as well. Both Brenn and Sam love swimming, but Brenn is unable to swim in public pools, and it would really be unfair to Samantha to take away her swimming time as well as uproot her from home because of our current situation. Any way, we miss Samantha when she is not with us, but it really sounds like she has a great time with Uncle Allan, and she looks forward to her time with him each time now.

Scott

It was another good, but really busy day today. It started off as any other day hanging out at RMH getting prepared for tomorrows big clinic day. We got up, and had breakfast, did our daily chore, and started doing some laundry. One of the other moms here (who happens to be from PG) has had a migraine headache for the past 2 days, and had gone to the doctors office a few days ago for some new medications. It turns out that she had an adverse reaction to one of her meds, and the result was a really bad migraine. So when we realized that she was as bad off as she was, I offered to take her to the doctor in order to discuss some different medications. We were at the clinic for 2 hours before she was ready to get a new prescription. She was in a lot of pain, even having trouble walking around. We should know tomorrow if her new meds are working, because the old meds will be out of her system. We are all hoping for the best.

When that was all said and done, I came home and started making smoked salmon ravioli with one of the girls here at the house. Christine let the cat out of the bag the other day that I knew how to make it, this girls really wanted to learn how. We spent the remainder of the afternoon making dough, filling, and stuffing the ravioli. It was a little more difficult than I am used to because they don't have all of the pasta making tools that I have at home, but it was a really good way to kill the afternoon. Both Brenn and Samantha got in on the action as well, and we all sat down to a really enjoyable dinner. We had stuffed mushroom caps, ravioli, and garlic bread all made from scratch. It was great. The dough didn't turn out as good as I am used to, but I guess it won't be perfect every time.

Brenn seemed a little out of sorts today, she seemed really tired, and emotional today. It was a pretty big change from the last week or so, and hopefully it was just that she had not as much sleep last night. The skin on her feet, and some on her face is starting to peel because of the Methotrexate, and also she has developed a really dry cough from all of the chemo drugs. So her feet are really itchy, and the cough keeps her awake as well. She is uncomfortable right now, but she is still doing remarkably well.

Samantha had a pretty good day today. She fell and bumped her head 4 times today, but still seems none the worse for wear. She is a tough little kid, she crys for a few minutes, and wants to be held. After a couple of minutes though, she is wiggling to get out of your arms so that she can go back to playing with the other kids. She has so much energy it is truly remarkable, it seems as if she can play all day long without any breaks. She is really funny to watch, but she is really hard to pin down so that she will eat a meal.

All in all it was a really good day today, just watching the kids laugh and play. I was concerned all day about Brenn, and about her clinic visit tomorrow. She will be getting another lumbar Puncture again tomorrow, as well as blood work, 3 different shots of chemotherapy drugs, and of course all of her vitals, and possibly a blood transfusion depending on how her blood counts are. All of this will take from 9 am until the earliest of 2 pm. We have to get up early so that she can eat her whole breakfast before 7 am because she has to go under a type of sedation for her lumbar puncture, and she will be unable to eat any food until around 1 pm. She is also not allowed any fluids after 10 am and nothing except clear fluids from 7 am until 10. I am sure that it will be a really interesting day tomorrow, and we have all been dreading this day for a long time. There is one more hard one this round, but I think that it will be closer to the end of this round sometime in September. We are here to go through this together, and tomorrow will be one of those days that I am supper happy that we are together, because I am not sure who can get through a day like tomorrow will be without having their family around. The drugs that we give her are hard for a parent to watch. They are poisoning her, and making her feel sick, but at the same time, they are making her better, it's just sometimes hard to see that this will one day all be over, and Brenn will be relatively the same little girl that she once was what seems so long ago.

Scott

For anyone who knows me knows that for me there is nothing better than having your family together sleeping through the night and waking up later than usual, so this started my day on a fantastic note. To pay my mood forward I made the girls and Scott french toast for breakfast and then proceeded to make a huge pot of borscht for them for lunch. Both girls love borscht so what better way to get the veggies in but to feed them something that is close to my heart and that I enjoy making so much. Our day continued on a positive note as we headed down to Stanley Park to meet one of Brenn's friends from school. Hunter is down from PG with her grandparents and mom who had to have back surgery yesterday. Hunter and her family have been a great support to us through our journey so far, it was great to see Hunter and Brenn just play. Brenn seemed to be really enjoying herself while the girls played at the park and then we all headed down to the water. Before long Brenn, Samantha and Hunter were splashing through the water, jumping over small waves and chasing each other around looking for shells and other creatures of the sea.....lol. The girls explored the living and dead crabs, small fish in the tidal pools and a few sea stars. It was amazing to see the girls so enthused by there surroundings and trying new things, pushing their personal boundaries a little bit further each time they found something new. These are memories that will not be forgotten I'm sure.....I just wish I would have remembered to bring a camera though. After a few hours Brenn was spent so home we came to watch a movie, play with Sam and Hannah, have some dinner, play a bit longer and then fall into bed. What a great day we had, we are truly blessed that we are fortunate enough to be able to be together through this journey. I can't imagine how this would be different if our family was apart, we would do it because we had to but I doubt it would be as positive and enjoyable as it has been.

PS how to post a comment:

1) click post a comment and write.

2) go to "post as" drop down menu at bottom of post box and click" anonymous"

3) click post comment

4) enter shown security letters or numbers in box and click post

5)volia comment posted

Hope it works as well for all of you as it did for me :)

Well, it's been another couple of days since the last post, and it has been a pretty interesting couple of days at that. Sunday was our 100th day here, and tomorrow will be our 100th day since Brenns treatment started. So on Sunday, I wasn't really in the mood to write, I just wanted to be around the people here at the house, and talk about what was going on.

It has been frightening, exhilarating, amazing, sad, agonizing, and difficult 100 days! We are so blessed to have such great support around us, that we are able to stay together, and fight together through Brenns treatment. I could absolutely not imagine not being here all together. 3 and a 1/2 months ago, I was working in Williams Lake, and all the stress I had was just about getting the job done down there to the best of my ability, and worrying about having everything that we needed, and doing everything right. Having the stress of work, even though, at that time, it felt really hard, looking back, it is really nothing compared to the stress that we have been through watching Brenn be sick. It is a lot more difficult seeing your child with a problem, like that than just doing the best you can at your job, I love my job, which makes my life a lot easier to I suppose, but I wouldn't like to see anyone go through this without the amazing support that we have felt from everyone that we know, and everyone that we don't know. It really has been a blessing going through this in may ways, because we really understand the love that our community really has for us. It is a weird concept, but we feel blessed more than anything having gone through this, and everything going as well as it has. Brenn is such a special little girl to go through this with such a strong outlook. She has been incredibly scared through all of the unknowns throughout her treatment, but once she gets to know what is happening, she is able to stand up, and be strong, and do what she has to do to get through each and every step of the process. Samantha has really had a struggle through all of this as well. She has been uprooted from her home and friends, seen her sister get really sick, been taken away by numerous family members while Brenn goes off for more treatment, and been stuck into a house that is non-stop all day long every day. She has really held up well also. She is a very strong willed little girl, but she is also the cutest, and funniest little girl, and exactly what we all need for comedy relief everyday. Thank God that he has given us such precious children. We could never have dreamed of having anything more than this. We are the luckiest people that I know, just to have the time to spend with both of our girls, and really get to know them as they start to develop their personalities. Again, I know that this may sound a little weird, but it really does feel that way. Living in this situation, Brenns treatment is a huge part of our day to day lives, but, it is just part of our reality. The rest of our lives right now is dedicated to living together, and just trying to distract ourselves with activities, and time together.

Any way, the last couple of days have been pretty tough. I woke up on Monday morning a little before 5 am, and really felt sick to my stomach. I got up, went to the bathroom, and got sick, had a shower, trying to get myself to feel better, but it really didn't work. I called my Uncle Allan so that he could come and pick Brenn and I up, as we had to get out of the house in case I really did have the flu or something. He came and picked us up, and took us to his house. I called Christine, and asked her to come back to Vancouver, as she had been in Vernon recovering from a stomach bug. She of course hopped in the car, and came home right away. It was really scary for me though. I initially thought that I had the flu, and was really scared that Brenn was going to get it. I was so tired through, that I was really unable to make much of a plan for us. I slept most of the day, while Brenn played with Uncle Allan and Auntie Nancy. When I woke up around 3 o'clock I was feeling quite a bit better, and knew then that Brenn was going to be okay. I never recover from the flu that fast so I was certain that it had been something that I ate. Brenn is still doing fine, so I am sure at this point that there is nothing to worry about, but it is nice to have Samantha and Christine home again, even though it cut their trip a bit short.

Today, we had to go and see a doctor in order to get a note for the RMH in order for us to move back in. Christine and I were both checked out, and deemed to be in good health by one of the clinic doctors in Childrens. It was kind of funny to have Brenns doctor looking at Christine, and I, but I suppose they are some of the best doctors that we have around, so who better to go and see. We came home, and relaxed for the rest of the day, just happy to be together.

Scott

Lets start with last night as opposed to the normal one day entry. As soon as I finished writing the blog last night, I was sitting outside of our room door, and heard Brenn start to cry. She had complained about her feet her feet hurting because of some blisters that she has on the arches of her feet at dinner time tonight, so at dinner, I just got her to take her shoes off, and that seemed to alleviate the problem. When she was crying in bed was the next time that I thought about it again. I went into the room, and Brenn was trying to take off her socks (she wears socks to bed every night), and there was a spot of blood on one of them. I got her socks off, and was surprised to find that her blisters looked infected. Immediately I was very concerned. I called the on call oncologist, and was told that I should bring her in to get checked out, and that she would call me back in a few minutes to let me know where to go, either Oncology, or Emergency. We ended up going to the ER, and seeing an ER doctor. Her looked at her feet and initially had the same concerns that I did. He poked and prodded as only doctors can, and determined that in fact they were not infected...yet, so he had them bandaged up, and sent us home with detailed instructions. We didn't get home until around 11:15, so we were both really tired. Brenn slept in until 9 this morning, which I am fairly certain is a new record for her. She was still very tired today, but she was a good girl none the less.

The weekend manager decided that it would be a great idea to make everyone French Toast this morning. She did a wonderful job, and it was really nice to not have to worry about getting food into Brenn. Brenn loves French Toast, so it was a no brainer, she ate almost one whole slice. Right now, I believe that was the single biggest meal she has eaten all week, I was supper happy. When we were at the hospital last night, we weighed Brenn, and she has only lost a couple of 10ths of a Kilogram over the past 4 days, so thats not to bad. That poor kid keeps going through so much garbage, and keeps surprising us every time with her amazing resilience. She has almost made it easy sometimes going through all of the test, and chemo days. After breakfast, a whole group of us went off to Costco downtown to pick up a few things for dinner tonight. It was a nice outing, but Brenn had to wear her mask throughout the trip, as on weekends, we try to stay away from stores as there are to many people around.

We made a dinner together as a house tonight. It was really nice, a couple of the volunteers came by to add to the potluck, and partake in the rest of the dinner with us. As usual, Chad and I manned the barbecues, and cooked all the meat. It takes two large barbecues to make enough meat for the house. We had kind of a Greek theme tonight, so I really enjoyed it. My cousin Jody, and her husband Joel came over tonight for dinner as well. It was great to have them here, and visit with them for a little while. Other than that, our day was very uneventful, we just played together, and didn't really do anything. It rained today, so most everyone stay here at RMH, and visited. It was a good day, and now I am tired ready for bed.

Scott

It was a really quiet day for us today. Brenn was tired so she slept in until 8 this morning. I guess that there is a first things for everything! Once she got up things went pretty slowly for us. We had some breakfast, which Brenn ate some, not a lot, but a little more than yesterday. I was encouraged that she ate a little bit more, but still worried about the day. She wasn't at all interested in food for the next little while until lunch, which is a bit odd, but not alarming. Between breakfast and lunch, Brenn wanted to lay down at the TV and watch movies. She was pretty tired this morning, and was not interested in doing anything. I took the opportunity to really clean the kitchen. I spent 3 hours washing the stove, moving all of the appliances on the counter and cleaning behind them, moved all the cereal and bread, cleaned the microwave, sinks, counter tops, cupboard faces, and refrigerators! It was a huge job, but it is way better now. The whole house is always kept very clean, but there is no substitute for a thorough cleaning job sometimes. It was a good sence of accomplishment when I was done that has sorely been lacking in my day to day life as of late.

Once I was done the kitchen, it was lunch time. Brenn said that she wanted chicken noodle soup again. I made her a can of soup, that turned out to be a complete waste, but I feel like I have just got to keep trying. She had a few bites of food throughout the afternoon, and we were struggling to come up with something for her to eat for dinner tonight, when my cousin called up and asked if we would like to accompany her to Shabusan Sushi. Tonight was all you can eat sushi and Korean barbecue! Brenn loves to eat the qyoza, and edamamy there, so I thought it would be a great idea to try to get her to eat. It worked, she ate 6 gyoza, and a whole pile of edamamy. It was great to see her eat, now I am just worried about the tummy ache. Hopefully she will not get one.

We had another great day spending time with each other today. We rode bikes around the neighbor hood, and played hide-and-go seek, and watched movies together, and cuddled for an hour in the afternoon. It was a really great day, I am so glad that we have such wonderful time together. She read a book with me tonight, trying to keep her up on her reading and she did really well. She would read one page, and I would read the next page. We alternated throughout the book. She is having some regression, but she is still doing really well. It is amazing that one of my children is already old enough to read! Good for her, GO BRENN

Scott

We went to Playland again today with Chad and Joanne. It was hot, but we had a really great time. We had some tickets left over from the last time that we went, so it cost us absolutely nothing. Brenn had a great sleep last night, and at first seemed to be doing really well this morning. She said that her tummy was feeling better, but when we got downstairs for breakfast, things changed. I made her scrambled eggs, which is one of her favorite breakfasts, and she picked at it having only a couple of bites. I tried to get her to eat some honey nut cheerios, another one of her favorites, but that was a no go as well. I eventually got most of a peach into her before I finally relented and said that we could go to Playland. She was really looking forward to going, and I was feeling really bad about possibly not going. For lunch she had a couple of french fries, and one bite of chicken. She was looking really tired at lunch, so we agreed to go on the log ride, and then call it a day. She was really quite on the way home, and so I thought that we would be having a nice relaxing afternoon. As soon as we walked in the house though, her feet hit the floor, and she ran off to play. She hasn't stopped yet! She has a ton of energy today, but I am still very concerned about her caloric intake today.

One of the big things that we are watching during this round is her weight. She lost .6 (about 1.25 lbs) over the previous week, and at this rate will be loosing even more. Today was the first day that she has really been uninterested in food. There were days were she was unable to eat, but today seemed a bit different. Hopefully today was just a passing day, and tomorrow she will wake up, and make up for today. We are having one of the boys birthday dinner tonight in the house, and Brenn is not really looking forward to eating again. One of the volunteers who is working tonight is going to make Sundaes for everyone, so maybe Brenn will get some calories then.....we can only hope. We had a really great day today other than the food issue, and have really been enjoying one anothers company over this week. I think we are both happy to have this time together, it has been so long since we have had time with one another one on one. So its happy days for now.

Scott

Today was Brenn and my first real day by ourselves, and we tried to make the best of it! Brenns tummy was feeling a little sore this morning, so I gave her 2 more doses of her stomach medicine, instead of the one dose that I had planned to give her today. The medicine is designed to keep her from getting nauseous, and throwing up, and really does a great job. From what I understand, before they started giving this particular medicine, the kids would all throw up every time they got their chemo! Thank God for medical science sometimes. Other than the upset tummy this morning, and some really tired legs throughout the day, Brenn was really good. She was happy, and upbeat, with only a few times today where she became overwhelmed with her emotions. It seems that she has a really hard time over a couple of days after chemo, where she just can't deal with things upsetting her. It is really hard for her to moderate herself. I was really proud of her today that she was able to get through the day with only a couple of small fits. Brenn is still the girl that can make everything better, and show you how life should be lived to the fullest even through difficult times. We are truly blessed by God to have such wonderful children to remind us that things are never as bad as they seem.

Living in RMH, while challenging, has also be a real blessing for us. There are some times that I get overwhelmed by having to live in such close proximity to so many people every day every week, and every month that we are here, but the connections that we have made I believe will last for life. Some of the conversations that we get into between ourselves are very restoring as well. We all know the story of how we all arrived here, and we all know what we are all going through, and it makes us stronger to be there together, through the ups and the downs. There are some people that do not participate in the group dynamic that has formed here, but they still contribute through their children. A lot of times, it is really hard to keep everything in perspective, and tonight, I think it is good for me to be talking about this, as Brenn and I have had a hard couple days in the house. Brenn really loves to play with all of the other kids, and do crafts, and everything there is to do here, but when she is not feeling well, sometimes it is hard for her to be here, seeing all the other kids playing, and not being able to play herself.

Any way, we had a good day today. We went down to Stanley Park on the bus (which was really crowded and made me really nervous), and went to the Aquarium. They have a show on right now called SpongeBob in 4D. It is played on a 3d screen, then they incorporate smell, wind, mist, and bubbles to make your other scenes partake in the entertainment. It was a pretty cool experience. Brenn thoroughly enjoyed it, and wants to take Samantha there to watch it again. The aquarium is great now that we have a yearly pass. We can pop in for an hour or two and enjoy a couple of things really thoroughly, and leave knowing that we can come back any time that we want to do something else. After the show, we went and watched the seal show and the dolphin show, which were both entertaining, and informative! Once we were done in the aquarium, we went for a little walk in the park, but Brenns legs were to tired, so I ended up carrying her for most of the way, and most of the time in the aquarium as well, but I don't mind shes great to cuddle with. We got back on the bus, and came back to RMH. Brenn played part of the afternoon when she was up to it before having dinner, shower, and off to bed. She fell asleep almost as soon as I put her to bed.

Scott

We are sitting at the hospital waiting for the results of Brenns blood test from this morning. Yesterday we had a really good day with Grandma. It was her last day here, as she is leaving today for the trek back to Campbell River. It was a nice visit with Mom as she was able to stay in RMH with us. The girls really enjoyed having her there, and waking her up in the morning for breakfast. We went and picked some blackberries from the bushes down the street in the morning. Christine and Samantha are in Vernon, so we only had to watch out for Brenn. It was kind of nice. After lunch we went off to Steveston, but it was really way to busy to enjoy. We went back to RMH to make dinner, and head off to bed. My cousin Nicole came and joined us for dinner, and then I met up with her after I put Brenn to bed so that we could go and run across the Lions Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful night for a run, the sun was setting, it was a little warm, but I am really struck by just how beautiful Vancouver really can be.

Today we are in clinic for a number of hours. We have already been here for a couple hours, and we have 2-3 more hours at least. If her blood work comes back, and she doesn't need a transfusion, then we will be out of here in 2-3 hours, if she needs something, then we will be taking on at least 4 more hours to that schedule......heres hoping she doesn't need anything. She seems to be doing well though. I am not anticipating that she will get a transfusion today. She is eating well again, she is still losing weight. She has lost another half a kilogram over the weekend, but I guess we are fairly unconcerned about that. We are just to keep an eye on her weight, and go from there. She has always been way underweight for her height, and she is headed in that direction again. When we arrived at the hospital, Brenn weighed 17.1 KG, she now weighs 19.4 KG, so she is quite a lot heavier than she was a few months ago. She is really looking like herself again, just without any hair. I am hopeful that she doesn't loose anymore weight though. I think that if she looses anymore weight that she will start to look sick again, and I am afraid that she will start to get sick again. I guess time will tell though. It has been a real treat to just spend some time with her on my own for the last couple days, and we are looking forward to a few more fun things over the next few days. So all in all, things are great, Brenn is great, and we are enjoying ourselves in the beautiful weather. As much as it sucks to be here and away from home, it has been a real treat otherwise to be able to spend so much time outside just playing with the girls.

Scott

Samantha and Christine left this morning, and we were all sad about their departure. I am very hopeful that Christine is able to take the break and enjoy herself, and de-stress a little bit. It has really been hard emotionally and mentally being here for the last 3 months. It feels like there is nothing else outside of our lives here. The constant stress of being so attentive to Brenn, and how she is doing from moment to moment really takes a toll over time. It is really nice to see that Brenn is doing well, but, there is always the possibility that Brenn will take a turn for the worse. We are always so prepared for anything that could go wrong at any time, because the doctors know what we should be looking for, and let us know. The stress of just being away from home, and out of our normal routine is starting to take it's toll as well. We as a family are used to me working all the time, so I am quite sure that I am starting to get on Christines nerves with my presence alone. We have grown a lot closer since we have been here because of all of the things we have gone through, but I am sure that I am still annoying sometimes.

Once we saw Christine and Samantha off, we went down to Kits beach so that Brenn could play in the park there. My cousin Nicole came with us to the beach, and spent an hour with us while Brenn played. We hopped back into Moms Rav, and headed out to Uncle Allans house with a couple quick stops along the way. Uncle Allan and I planned to run together today, and I let him plan the route. He decided to run around Bunson Lake. It was the hardest 11.5 km I have ever run. The trails were pretty rough, and they went up and down at steep angles the entire way around. It was a really great challange, but I think that we both came back happy that it was over, and really tired. We waded in the lake to wash off some of the dust that had collected on us, and then headed back to his house. Christine called while we were on the way home to let me know that they had made it to Vernon, and that everything was fine. Samantha got a little sick in the car on the way there, and hopefully it was just car sickness, not something else. Once they got there, things settled down, and she was playing and acting normally, so that is great.

We had a huge meal at Uncle Allans house, and ended up staying a little late, and not getting back to the house about an hour and a half past Brenns bedtime. Oh well, I guess the occasional late night is not that bad. So it was a really great day, and tomorrow should be great as well. Brenn and I are having a lot of fun with Grandma, and tomorrow should be a nice relaxing day...

Scott