It was a stress filled day for Christine and I today! Brenn had her clinic day this morning, and started her new round. It is really stressful for Christine and I when we start a new round for Brenn. There is always a lot of new information, new side effects, new drugs, and new ways of administering old drugs. Brenn had 2 drugs through her IV today, Methotrexate, and Vincristine. Both of these drugs are really toxic to the body, Methotrexate goes after the white blood cells, while vincristine goes after pretty much all of her blood. This round is designed to trick her cancer into thinking that we are not really doing anything, which is why we are using the same drugs that we have been using, and slowly over the next 2 months increasing the dosages. So long as her blood can take the increase in medicine, we will continue to increase every 10 days. the good news about this round is that we only have to give her medicine at home 3 days a week, and we only have to go to the hospital 2 days in a row once every 10 days. Brenn will probably not feel quite as well as she did last round, but she should still be feeling okay. She has already started to complain about a sore tummy, but other than that, her first 12 hours post meds have been fairly good.

Christine, Terry and Jullie, and the girls all went off to the aquarium this afternoon, while I hung out with Cooper (their dog). I attempted to apply for EI while they were gone, and after about an hour and a half of working at it online, I ran into a couple of question. I ended up calling the toll free number, and after waiting another 1/2 hour on hold found out that even though I have been paying into EI my whole life, I am ineligible for benefits. They provide coverage only if Brenn had a probability of dying over the next 12-24 months! I really don't understand the system sometimes. We have been supported by so many people, we have been truly blessed. We have been in awe of the support that we have been shown, and feel overwhelmed by everyones generosity. I am trying to do everything that I can in order to support my family while we are here, and there is surprisingly little support from the government, or government programs such as EI. I fail to see what difference it make weather or not Brenn is going to die in the next few months makes. Brenn has a disease that we feel, and have been told by our doctors, that we should both try to stay together through. If Brenn had a broken arm, or a problem like that, I would stay home and work, but not having access to programs has been really frustrating. I really want to thank everyone for all of your generous donations! Without them, there would be no possible way for me to stay here much longer without any other outside help.

From what I understand, Brenn and Samantha had a really good time at the Vancouver Aquarium today. Terry was really generous and bought our family a year membership, so now we can go whenever we like, either for a short relax visit, or whatever we want. The kids really love the aquarium, and it is quite close to us, so I am sure we will be taking full advantage of those passes. What a treat to get a pass, we are really thankful for them! Also, Christine seemed to be feeling a little better with her allergies today. She said that she took 5 different pills this morning, and whatever she did, it seemed to work, so hopefully she has found a stop-gap that will take her through to her doctors appointment tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers, they really showed that they helped today with both Christine and Brenn. We have learned through all of our battles here, that everything we go through, God has an answer for. As frustrating as my battle, and non-understanding of, EI today was, I know that we have already received a lot of outside help, and I feel that we will be able to make it through. Our stress levels seem to be kept in check most of the time, but they are always right at the breaking point it seems. Christine and I both have times that we are barely holding things together, and other times were we simply cannot contain our feelings anymore. It has been a really great couple of weeks, but the stress of our situation has never really left us. We are also all at a point that we would love to come home, and sleep in our own beds, and see our friends, and have a normal life for a while. I am really sorry about all of my rantings tonight, but it was a difficult day, and I just needed to get most of this stuff off my chest. It is all in hopes that I can get it out, and hopefully make tomorrow a better day.

Thank you all for you support, I really am emotionally overwhelmed by everything that you have all done for our family. I can't support my family right now by myself, which I am really used to being able to do, and it has been a hard adjustment to have everyone else helping us out. Thank you for caring enough to support my family! It means everything to us, and we thank God for all of you every day.

Scott