We have really had a pretty good past few days. It was Brenns birthday on Saturday, and boy did she ever get spoiled. She missed her friends from home, and she wasn't feeling 100%, but the day went quite well, and she really enjoyed the low energy games, and gifts that she got. My Mom, Uncle, and Aunt, and a girls sorority that volunteers here came by for the party, and that was really special for Brenn. It made her feel a bit better about being here than being at home for her birthday. All in all we had a really quite weekend, for the most part Brenn was a little tired, and when we pushed the activity a little, it ended up in tears because her red blood cells were so low. On Friday of last week, we went into clinic for a quite blood test so that we would know were she was at for the weekend, to see if we were going to be able to get together with the family that we have here in the lower mainland for a birthday party on Sunday. Her counts came back so low that it was actually scary after all this time. This necessitated staying at RMH all weekend. Mom and I and Samantha got out a couple times, but beyond that we simply stayed here and played. It is tough mentally right now to be couped up with the end being so near.

Again today, we went to clinic for more blood tests to find out if we were going to be able to start maintenance tomorrow. We had braced ourselves that we would have to wait for another week, and as it turns out we will have to wait. Brenns counts have started to climb, and we are very grateful for that, and with her counts the way they are right now, I would feel really worried about putting Brenn on a plane for home. Once maintenance starts, we will still have to be very careful about Brenns health. If she gets a fever in the next 20 months of treatment, we would have to go to the hospital for IV antibiotics, and most likely stay at the hospital for a few days or a week. We are really looking forward to coming home, and look forward to seeing everyone, and right now, that still seems far away, but we will be home soon. Likely late next week we will be arriving back in Prince George, as long as her counts continue to climb as they are, we will be safe to come home then. Thank you all for all your prayers over the past 6 months, and we look forward to talking to you all in person soon.

Scott

Nothing much has been happening in our world over the last couple of days, we have stuck close to the RMH with the exception of going to the hospital for blood and going to Scott's Grandmas for a very nice visit. Brenn's counts are stable, going up a bit for her platelets, going down a bit for her hemoglobin and well her ANC it just keeps dropping. We are really hoping that it starts to come up for the weekend as it is Brenn's birthday and we would like to be able to get together at Scott's uncle Lyle's for a family party for her, unfortunately this will not happen if it does not. We are just playing the waiting game for the go ahead for the next and final phase and then it's smooth sailing home :) We will be able to receive most of the rest of Brenn's treatment in Prince George only to return to BCCH every three months for a LP, some chemo and a checkup. This is very good news to us and we are excited to get back home.

Well that last blog was kind of a downer.....lol That is a little picture of what our life can be like from week to week. On a more positive note, Brenn's counts have not fallen over the weekend, her platelets rose a small amount and her red blood cells have maintained. This is great news for us as she did not need a transfusion today and hopefully her own healthy cells will start to generate soon. We are still being extremely careful as we have to be but life has air to it now. We have had a very festive weekend doing Halloween activities that the girls have enjoyed immensely and now we are all enjoying the fruits of our labor from last night....Candy, Candy and more Candy :)

The last week has been the most unnerving and scariest week that we have had since the first month that we were here. Brenn is doing very great mentally and emotionally but physically the chemo is doing exactly what it is suppose to.....bringing her counts down fast! Wholly Hannah scary stuff! Brenns nose started running on Tues. so we brought her in o get it checked out, our nurse decided to blood then as Brenn was do for it the next day anyways. Her platelets were a whopping 24, she normally sits at 300!!!!! Now for those of you who are not familiar with what the platelets do they are the bodies bandaids, without them you just continue to bleed if cut, bruise by the smallest touch, when they are really low a nose bleed will begin and it will not stop. Brenn had no symptoms of having low platelets so this came as a surprise to Scott, myself and the doctors, we all decided to hang tight on the transfusion and keep an eye on her. By Thursday Brenn developed petecheia (broken capillaries) along the sides of her neck . I immediately call clinic to discuss a plan of action as this is a sign of her platelets being at a critical low. Brenn was still fine as she was not bleeding as of yet. We brought Brenn in Friday morning, her platelets were 10. Writing this I am feeling the anxiety I have felt the last few days, the constant worry of the what if's. Hitting her head could cause massive bleeding, cutting herself more blood, bumps resulted it bright red, purple, black and blue marks as they aged. Living in fear of ones 5 year old playing normal 5 year old games is not a fun place to be. Scott moved Brenn's bed as she could hit her head in her sleep, start bleeding and we wouldn't know. The last week as be spent saying "Brenn don't run, Brenn be careful, please be careful with Brenn her platelets are low" over and over again. So we got platelets yesterday and on Monday we go back to clinic and her counts will be checked again as Brenn's hemoglobin was 1 point away from when they normally transfuse. Our little person is black, blue and red poke a dotted, and a nice shade of really white! We are glad the week is over, and we are thankful that the chemo is doing what it is suppose to do, KILL the rest of the cancer living in Brenn's body, but in doing this it also kills the healthy cells and so we are living through this coming out the other side and looking forward to returning home to live a reasonably normal new life.

Well, Saturday was a really big milestone for us. Brenn will no longer be getting any chemotherapy from the hospital until we begin maintenance. We still have a few days left of chemotherapy pills that she has to take every day, but once we are done those on Wednesday, we are done the intensive phases of Brenns treatment. What great news!!!!

We now have to wait until her blood counts come up to a normal level before we start her 20 month maintenance phase. This phase will involve some low key chemotherapy pills taken every day, a monthly shot of vincristine, a quarterly lumbar puncture (that is to be administered in Vancouver), a one week out of the month an oral steroid, and her three days a week antibiotic. All of the drugs that she takes during the maintenance phase are designed to keep her blood levels just below normal, and try to successfully kill any stray cancer cells that may still be circulating in her bone marrow. While she is taking these drugs however, life should be fairly normal. We have to eat dinner earlier than we are used to, but physically, Brenn should be normal after a few months.

We have had a busy, but great weekend. Friday, as most of you know was Christines Birthday. We were able to get out in the evening together, and we met up with all of my cousins from Vancouver, and had a really great time relaxing and having some much needed fun time. Saturday, we went to the hospital in the early afternoon before heading out to my Uncle Lyles house to play with the dogs, and help sell their pumpkins. The money that they raised is all going to Leukemia research, so it was quite a special day for us. Today was another relaxing day that we went out to my Uncle Allans house for another birthday dinner before coming home tired, and ready for bed.

Scott

We have had a really great last couple of days. Brenns energy levels are still incredible even though her hemoglobin is really low. She is scheduled to get a transfusion of red blood cells tomorrow morning so that she will make it through the weekend without having to worry about much. Other than her general low red blood cell counts, things are still going pretty well through this part. We were really worried that this part of her treatment would be really hard, and while it hasn't been easy, things have gone quite well for her. So now we are all very hopeful that the remainder of her treatment goes as well as it has been going.

After treatment yesterday, we took the ferry across to Victoria so that we could see my Mom and Grandma. Grandma had a doctors appointment in Victoria, and since it was so close to Christines birthday, we all decided to take the opportunity to get together before we go back home to Prince George. It was an incredibly beautiful day here and in Victoria, and we were able to play on the beach, and soak up a little bit more sun before the rain really sets in here. My Mom and Grandma took us out for a really nice early dinner before we hit the ferry back to Vancouver. It was a really fantastic day, and we are all really glad that we were able to go kind of at the drop of a hat.

Today Brenn and I went to clinic while Christine and Samantha went to the pumpkin patch with some of the volunteers from RMH. Brenn and I had a good time coloring and waiting for her blood counts to arrive back from the lab, and from what I hear, the pumpkin patch was a lot of fun as well. I am really enjoying every day that I have with the kids right now. I know that when I get home, I will be working every day again, and the girls will be in school and pre-school, and Christine and I will not have the same amount of time with the kids as we have over the past 6 months. It is really odd to think that 6 months ago, I was working in Williams Lake, and I wouldn't see the girls for 10 straight days. I would really miss Christine, Brenn, and Samantha, but it was okay. Now I can't even imagine going to work for 8 hours, 5 days a week, and only seeing them for a few hours everyday. Getting back to normal life sure is going to feel abnormal!

Scott

Good news today! We are finally back in Ronald McDonald house. Thank God that our stay at the hotel is finally over, and the kids have some room to run. Both of the kids have a ton of energy right now, and they were really starting to not only get on each others nerves, but they were driving us nuts as well. All in good fun I guess though. Arriving back at the house today was really great timing for the kids. Tomorrow all of the Halloween festivities get under way, and they are both really excited about it all. It was a beautiful day today, and we were lucky to get all of our stuff done early this morning, and enjoy the afternoon and evening. We again were the beneficiaries of more free tickets, and were able to go the Stanley Park with the girls and another family from RMH to ride the ghost train. It was really fun for the kids, and really not scary at all, so the kids had a great time. It was themed after Alice in Wonderland, and they really did a good job. I am sure that the girls didn't understand what was going on, but if you have seen the movie, I think that they did a great job with the story line and characters.

At the clinic this morning, Brenn was seen by nurses, doctors and physiotherapists in order to make sure that all was well. She had a blood test, and much to all of our surprise, her hemoglobin was really low. She is not displaying any real side effects that normally come with low hemoglobin, so we did not transfuse her today. Most likely, tomorrow she will get some red blood cells to boost her back up, as we are still actively treating her, and her counts will not be coming up on their own right now. Other than her hemoglobin though her blood counts were fairly good for right now. The physiotherapist spent quite a bit of time with her today, as her ankles are getting weaker from all of the chemo that she has received over the past 6 months. This is a fairly normal side effect, but she has started compensating for her lack of strength and flexibility by pronating. It is just another thing that we will have to keep our eye on for the next couple of years as she develops further. She will still be getting the particular drug that causes this problem every month for the next two years, so we have quite a few stretches that we have to do, and maybe in the future, we will have some strengthening exercises to do. Strengthening right now will actually cause further damage as her feet are not moving correctly, and her muscles are not ready to take strength.

It was a good day today, coming back to RMH was a real blessing. It is really nice to see all the people here, and share once again in the comradery of the house. Even though sometimes living with all these people can really get us down, it is an incredibly positive environment where everyone is pretty well in the same boat, we all know what is going on with our kids, and we are just looking for support from one another. I am not sure, now that we are nearing the end of this wild journey, how we would have made it through all of this without our new friends here at Ronald McDonald house. Thank God for all the people who keep this place up and running, without it, things would be a lot different for a lot of families!

Scott