An answer to prayer!

We are FLOATING today! After another VERY tough week in isolation, we had been hoping and praying before Brayden's next round of treatment, his counts would go as high as they could. Well, we were absolutely STUNNED today to see his counts the highest they've been since his treatments began on April 23rd! Last week they were only 240 and they were 2000 today! WHAT!?!?!? Brayden was instantly whooping and hollering all around the house, "Yeah, baby! WOOHOO!! YEAH!" It was a riot! The nurse could totally hear his reaction over the phone and while I was in an other room! Within 20 minutes we were packed and prepared to get out of the house for the first time in a VERY long time!

We just got home FINALLY a bit ago and I'm exhausted from our adventures and so is Brayden. We were really trying not to over-do it. Today was really his first taste of summer in such a long time. It was awesome. We were all so thankful for that gift. We needed a reprieve. Brayden did, especially. So even though I'm dragging and really ready for bed, we wanted to share the awesome news with everyone and say it's safe to say, we will NOT be home this weekend!!!

Here's a few of today's highlights, then I promise I'll detail more later.
We went to Sonic (HH FINALLY! His Favorite!), Brayden's school to see all the wonderful teachers and meet his new 4th grade teacher, my sister's office so he could get the first hug in a long time, the sno-cone stand with his cousins and Nini, out to dinner (on the Slim Chicken's patio with cousins & Nini & Papaw), Target (with a mask) to run through and look at school supplies and pick up a few Star Wars guys, then the Bark Park to play with Hershey and his cousins! I'm exhausted!! He is too...but SO excited to be out. I'm glad there was no one at Target. I figured it was safer than WM cause I heard it was pretty empty and we barely saw anyone, in and out pretty quick. I was still very nervous and anxious about finally being out, but it was SO NICE! For a few minutes, we got to forget about everything and have a taste of normalcy. Nevermind the full-body alochol bath we all got when we came home. Just kidding...just some good hot water and soap!

We leave out VERY early for Little Rock Monday morning where he'll be admitted again at Arkansas Children's Hospital. I'll have more time to post updates then from his room when he's resting. We're praying for safe travels, for Brayden's body to remain strong, for the High-Dose Methotrexate to QUICKLY leave his body so his toxicity levels will come down low enough for him to get to come back home. We're praying his sedation for his spinal (LP) and removing his PICC-line (YEAH!!!) go well too. He was saying today he's going to miss it (the PICC-line). It's crazy how you grow attached to it and he's had it now for almost 4 months to the day. It's served him very well and we're SO thankful it stayed infection-free! What a blessing! So more to come, but praying Brayden doesn't get mouth sores, as they're prevalent with this regimen.

Thanks again to everyone for all the love, support and encouragement. It really does help keep us going. Can't wait to tell you more about our big weekend of freedom!! And for now, remembering to be SO thankful for the smallest gifts of a beautiful day outside without a mask!