Little Rock - Day 1

Is it really Monday? My days are all a jumble. Packing to come back to Little Rock was nice and fun...in that you try to keep it simple, yet prepare for what is needed. And, this time we have schoolwork to pack and mom is working! Nini Annette came with us this time - thank goodness! She is being a big help already!

Brayden was silly as ever getting here and seeing all the familiar faces. I couldn't stop laughing at his story-telling to his Dr. and Nurse! He definitely told ALL about the Branson craziness and, lesson-learned, don't miss out on being at the Dr. visits! Brayden took the opportunity to tell all of dad's stuff on him since he wasn't here! Too funny...

Brayden's counts have dropped a bit. I'm guessing we may have a week off when we are to return in two weeks from today. Maybe not...but they're getting back down to the level where it causes me to not feel as comfortable doing more things. He got to go fishing with dad yesterday and LOVED catching his "Twig Fish". I loved hearing him explain how he thought he had a 'big bass on the line' and it was just a twig from the bottom of the lake!!

For now, we've had some waiting games to play. They have to pre-hydrate Brayden for 6 hrs before he's given the High-Dose Methotrexate, which should happen in about an hour. From there, he'll receive the chemo over 12 hrs, then have another bag for another 12 hrs. We'll wait and see what happens. After checking his levels, we'll know later Wednesday what the return-home plan should be. I'm guessing it will be Thursday afternoon again :-(

For now, we'll get back to trying to push through schoolwork with Nini's help. I was a little bummed we were in a shared room. It's definitely hard enough to see your own sweetie going through the hard times. But being here is always an eye opener of so many kids that are going through hard times with childhood cancer. It's also a reminder of how unbelievably well Brayden is doing. I never want to take that thankfulness for granted. The prayers are definitely not taken for granted. Thanks to everyone for all your continued support through this marathon of chemo treatments for Brayden. It's a long road, but he's off to a good, strong start!

Praying again for no mouth sores, peaceful rest, our neighboring patient to have successful surgery and treatments, and joy overflowing for Sweet Brayden! I'm so thankful this diagnosis hasn't robbed him of that!!