Today was clinic day today! Christine also had an appointment with her old doctor here in Vancouver, so it was a bit exciting getting everyone ready and out the door this morning. Once we figured everything out, things went really smoothly. Brenn had a Lumbar Puncture this morning, so she was not allowed to eat, and her appointment was not until 10:00 am, so she was pretty hungry, and a little cranky. She did really well despite her hunger, and we sailed through the clinic in about 2-1/2 hours. This was great! We were also told that we would not have to go to the clinic at all next week! The good news just keeps on coming. The doctor also said that if we wanted to take a quick trip somewhere like Whistler, or Kelowna that it would be okay as long as we informed them before we left and let them know where we would be and for how long. The next phase of treatment (which doesn't start for another two weeks) looks pretty easy also. Our head oncologist told us to take this time, and really try to enjoy ourselves because the last 2 months running from mid September through mid November will be tough. I was really hoping that we would be back in Prince George for Brenns birthday, November 6th, but I guess we will just have to postpone her party until we do get home.

We are now feeling antsy, and really want to get out and see what is going on out there, but it is also a little intimidating. We were planning on possibly going out to Campbell River for a few nights, but just found out that Grandma is sick, so we will be postponing that trip for a while. Whistler is an option if we can find somewhere to stay for a couple nights. Brenn really likes Whistler, but will have to wait and see. Kelowna really seems far right now, but hey, they have a really good cancer clinic there, and we would feel a little more safe knowing that. It's been quite an intense couple months, and the new found freedom is scary!

Today was a great day after we got out of the clinic. We went and visited Ryan (another little boy with ALL from the house) he was in the hospital last night, and will be staying tonight, being released tomorrow if all goes as planned. After that, we went and had a celebration lunch with Brenn, before coming back to the house where Uncle Allan was dropping Samantha off. The kids were in good moods, however tired, and went to bed really well again tonight. It's really felt good to have the kids back to normal for the past few days, and we are really all enjoying one anothers company. Now Christine and I are going to have dinner together, as she was at Yoga again tonight. Good night.

Scott

Well, I was really worried about how the day was going to go today. The girls didn't go to bed until just after 9 pm last night, I am not sure what the problem was, they just didn't want to sleep, or one of them was keeping the other one up? We had to get up at 6:30 this morning in order to get the car to the mechanic on time. We had some brake work, and an oil change done. It is amazing how quickly almost 2 months has flown by! I was really surprised when I realized I already needed another oil change a couple days ago. It really is hard to believe how different life really is compared to two months ago now. Everything seems so distant, it's like it was years ago.

The girls turned out to have a pretty good day today. They were both Daddies girls today, so I was quite happy with that, and Christine I am sure was happy with the bit of a break that it afforded her. Putting the girls to bed tonight was a bit of a challenge though, they were both really tired, which made them very cranky, but I think they will go down quickly.....We have our clinic day tomorrow which means another early morning for the girls, so with any luck at all, they will get a really good rest today, and feel great in the morning. Samantha has another day with Uncle Allan. I always feel bad that Samantha has to go out somewhere while we take Brenn to the clinic. She is always so sad that she has to leave, however she always has a great time with Uncle Allan. I know that a lot of Sams anxiety comes from these days, when she knows that Brenn is in the hospital, and she has to go somewhere else. I know that she knows Brenn in getting needles, and a bunch of procedures done each time, and I am sure she wants to be with Brenn during them, but there is simply no way that we can accommodate Samantha at the hospital beside the fact that they do not allow siblings during procedures.

Our family is getting a lot better at dealing with a lot of these day to day issues, but it is still really hard emotionally when you stop for long enough to think about what Brenn and Samantha are both going through right now. They are such great little girls, that bring so much joy into our lives, and now they are thrown into so much turmoil. We pray everyday that they have a good day, and that they get to do one really fun thing everyday. We really are blessed though that they are such easy girls. We went and bought a little kite today, and tried to fly it on Kits Beach. For the first time since we have been here, there was no wind on the beach, and just a word advice, $6.00 does not get you a very good kite...ours broke after the 5th or 6th try to get it into the air. You win some, you lose some I guess. I am going to try to fix it, but if the material to fix it is more than a couple dollars, it's just not worth it. We had a blast on the beach today anyway, the kids got wet, and had to ride home in their underwear, totally soaked. They had a bath when they got home, dinner, and now bed. Christine is a hot yoga again tonight, and I plan on going for a run when she gets back, then a little time with Christine, and then bed for us to. Good-night

Scott

Today was another great day. The girls and Scott went for a walk in Yaletown while I got my hair cut, while walking they cashed in our lottery tickets and went for lunch with the winnings. I guess it was good as both girls and Scott told me how yummy it was. After the haircut we had to race to see my old doctor, Sam poked me in the eye this morning and I was having a few concerns with it....turns out I have a significant scratch on my cornea. Ouch....... it hurts every time I blink my eye, thank goodness it only takes a few days to heal. Brenn played with Sam and the other children in the house during the times we weren't running around for me. She is developing strong relationships and is always on the go now.....long cry from the little girl a few weeks ago that just sat at the table and ate or thought about food all day.

The house had another family dinner tonight BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs......it's so nice that there are people out there that care enough to donate their time to the families that access the RMH. It makes such a difference for us here. Well that's it another day, nothing new to report.....which by our standards is fantastic, that means that Brenn doing well. Good night all:)

We had another great day today. Brenn and Samantha had a really good sleep on their old 7 pm-7 am schedule last night, so they woke up in a great mood, and stayed in a good mood all day. There are going to be some continuing issues with Brenn working through the things that are going on in her body, and Samantha working through why all of this is happening, but starting with good sleeps, hopefully we will be able to help them both out more.

We had Hanna with us again today. She gets along so well with both of the girls, it's really great. She fits right in with our family, it's almost like the kids having an older sister. Hannas brother was diagnosed with ALL about 3 days after Brenn, and has been having some leg trouble last night and today, so has been in and out of the hospital for the past couple days. He is starting to feel better now, but still has a bit of a fever that we are all anxiously watching. He is a really tough kid though, and I am sure he will be fine by tomorrow. Kids are amazing in their ability to rebound from trouble.

Christine, the three girls and I all went out this afternoon looking for something to do. We eventually ended up going to Ambleside and watching all the people fishing from the pier. The girls got to play with a couple of little eels, through some rocks, play in a park, and do some beach-combing. It was a lot of fun for all of us, and while we were there the weather improved a ton which just made things better and better for us. On the way back to the house, we were driving down north west Marine Dr. and a Lamborghini drove past us. We were all admiring the car when we noticed that it had an 'N' on the back...are you kidding me? This kid has way to much money! Nice car, but I am not sure that anyone should learn how to drive with such an awesome piece of technology.

We decided to go out for dinner on the way home, and went to one of our favorite restaurants that holds a lot of memories for Christine and I, called Los Margaritas on west 4th. We had a really delightful dinner, and then headed home for some play, and finally to put the kids to bed. At the end of this day, they should all be quite tired and looking forward to another long sleep tonight. Hopefully this will work out so that we will have another good day tomorrow. Thanks again for all the prayers, we appreciate every one of them.

Scott

PS, Morgan Issac could you please send me your e-mail address?

Today was a pretty fun day here. We started out pretty relaxed, while Christine went out to go to 'hot yoga,' the girls and I played around the house, and did some of our chores. Christine had a great time at yoga today, she went with one of the volunteers from the house, and it sounds like she will be going at least a couple more times throughout the week. This is great news! She really needs to have some time for herself like the rest of us get.

Once Christine got back, one of the other families in the house that we have really bonded with, went for a walk to one of the many parks in the area, and played for quite some time. It was beautiful out this afternoon. It was sunny and the perfect temperature. We all had a really great time, right up until about 50 meters from the house on the way back from the park, when Brenn fell and skinned her knee. The cut that she got was not to bad, it bled a little bit, but it really was pretty minor. I think that as a result from all of the medication that she is on, as well as all of her pent up emotion about all the she is going through combined with the scraped knee was a recipe for a major break down. We tried to make her feel better, by cleaning her knee and bandaging it, which worked really well until the point that we put on the band aid that she asked for. She started screaming, and would not stop for over an hour. Both Christine and I (especially Christine as she is way better than I am at this kind of thing) tried to settle her down, to no avail. Joe and Debbie VanCalsteren also tried to calm her down when they phoned, which did help some, but it was really hard. Brenn just wanted to cry for a while, so in the end we took her upstairs, away from the few people in the house, and let her go for it. Once she was done, it took her a while, but she stated playing, and talking, and eating her dinner again. So all in all, it was really not a big deal. I just hope that she is okay emotionally, seeing her unable to stop and just wanting to cry things out for a while was pretty hard, and I really hope that it helped her feel better. It's hard sometimes remembering through all that is going on that she is still a 5 year old little girl, that sometimes has trouble working through her thoughts, feelings, and the things that she is afraid of, or doesn't understand.

I would really like to take a second and really deeply thank everyone up in Prince George for everything. It was really great to see just how many people came out to really help Brenn. Everyone from Cedars Christian School, Ospika Heights, Westwood Church, Simba Motors, Integris Credit Union, Centre City Electric, and all of the individuals who have put in such a colossal effort in helping out our family. It was incredible to see. Everyone that I got a chance to see was amazingly supportive, and I thank everyone for all of the dinners, and lunches that you all so graciously supplied for Samantha and I. I realized when I got back down here, that I had not turned on my stove one time. In fact the only thing that we ate at the house was yogurt, cereal, and yogurt drinks! Everyone that I didn't get a chance to see, I am really sorry, I would love to see everyone, but I really did have a very truncated trip north. It really would have been great to have a couple more days in Prince George, but I really felt that it was important to spend as little time as possible up there in order to get back here with Christine and Brenn. I am really looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.

Love the Smith Family

Samantha and I are back in Vancouver!!! We had a pretty hard time getting to the airport this morning, but it all worked out, and we made the flight that we wanted. Peter, Sandy, and Conner were on the flight with us, and ended up sitting in the row right in front of us. It was quite nice to have them on the flight as well, just to have someone else to talk to. The flight was good, and we were really excited to get back to see Christine and Brenn.

We all went out for lunch, and Brenn sat in my lap for most of the time, it was great, just to get the cuddle. It was a beautiful day here in Vancouver. The sun was shining, the beaches were packed, and there were people walking everywhere. We came back to the house after lunch, in order to meet my mom here, and then after a while, we decided to go down to the beach to get some fresh air, and feel the sun on our skin. We got to the beach, and both girls were starting to get a little cranky from lack of sleep most likely. Brenn had forgotten her hat at home, so we gave her one of the two hats that Samantha had in the car. Only one of the hats fit Brenns head, unfortunately, it is Samanthas favorite. This started a huge war, and both girls ended up getting really upset, and both were really uncontrollably crying, so the trip to the beach was ended before we even got to the sand. Oh well, I guess there is always tomorrow. This is one of the hardest issues that we have with the girls right now, we are really trying to balance our attentions, and keep both kids happy, but they are progressively getting more stressed, and this leads to more and more crying. Being away from home for so long with all the changes has really been hard, and this will likely be an issue for the rest of our stay down here. Hopefully we will be able to get to a point that it is manageable though. I just pray that the kids are happy and healthy, and we can deal with the rest!

Any way, it's been a really long day, so I will sign off, and talk more tomorrow.

Scott

2 days wrapped up in one

Brenn had a good day yesterday, she had clinic in the morning which lasted a whomping 5 hours as they could not get a blood return from her VAD, after many different try's, an x-ray and some "draino" (blood thinner of some sort) they were finally able to get some blood to do her CBC. She got her LP and latest dose of chemo, the doctor used a very fine needle to puncture the membrane to retrieve her spinal fluid and to inject the chemo. Brenn had to lay flat for two hours afterward, as well was prescribed a cafe mocha in hopes that she would not get another weeks worth of spinal headaches. She hated the laying flat and after 3 sips of her specialty coffee she loved it....eeeekkkk. The rest of the day was spent watching a movie in our room and then dinner and craft night with a volunteer that comes once a week to do different projects. All in all a good day again.

This morning Uncle Alan came to spend sometime with Brenn, the house had passes for the suspension bridge and Brenn really wanted to go....so after calling our nurse to check Brenns' counts (as we did not stick around long after she gave blood to get her counts yesterday) Brenn and Uncle Alan headed for the bus. Yes that's right the BUS, Brenn's counts were so good she got the okay to ride public transit, she has really wanted to this since arriving in Vancouver. When arriving back at the house 4hours later I was informed that Brenn had a fantastic time. She spent her time walking around the bridges, climbing in the tree house and exploring the entire suspension grounds, as well she rode 3 buses, 2 sky trains and 1 sea bus. Tonight we will be having a Greek family dinner and both of us can hardly wait...yum yum. I have no doubt that Brenn will fall right in bed exhausted after her bath after such a fantastic day out with her great Uncle :)