And it continues

The good news is Brayden's blood work results today shows he's not Neutropenic. I'm glad his counts are at least above 1,000 - but just barely. Once he starts this month of treatment, he can't stop. So the higher the better. We had been fretting the risk of not getting to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. I was still hoping there might be a way. It turns out that it will be very unlikely we'll get to celebrate as planned this year.

Brayden and I will leave at 5am Monday morning for Little Rock. He'll be admitted for an aggressive round of chemo and we're hoping to go home Tuesday afternoon. He'll then get chemo locally Wed & Thurs. This is the round I've been dreading - the last aggressive round. This one makes him the sickest and is the one that's been the culprit of his previous blood and platelet transfusions. It's also the one that's caused him to be Neutropenic the longest, so it has long-term impacts. The following Monday the 23rd, we'll be back in Little Rock again for the last half of this chemo (Ara-C). He'll have it again locally Tues & Wed, then since the local clinic is closed, I'm guessing we'll be back in Little Rock on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) for the final dose of it. Last time this one made him very sick for the entire 2 weeks.

We know the most important thing is getting Brayden complete with only healthy cells remaining and we'll be focused on that. Yes, we're so sad and disappointed but we'll try to make it as little of a deal for Brayden as we can. We'll just do something here maybe that weekend once he's feeling better to eat again. On the days we'll get chemo locally, it can be ugly. It's taken hours before to get him enough iv fluids and anti-nausea meds to help him tolerate and get the next dose of chemo. We can't get through these 2 weeks fast enough.

The next 2 weeks after all this we will be back in Little Rock for those Monday's. He'll get Vincristine (=IV push) and then his LAST and final Asparaginase shots in his legs. Radiation is after that. So again it becomes tricky for Christmas. I don't want to even think about that but my hope is his counts improve to where we can see everyone - but somehow not enough for him to get Radiation. I can dream, right? His counts will drop again after Radiation, which will be 2 weeks spent in Little Rock.

I hope all the details help to put it all in perspective and easier to understand for everyone what we're up against. Just like Halloween, we'll do what we can from home to celebrate with Brayden. We'll miss everyone at Thanksgiving and can't wait to get together again soon. For Christmas, I'll still be hoping for a miracle. We love everyone and are thankful for all the support and love and encouragement. We're getting closer in some ways and in others, it still seems like we're not to base camp yet on Mt. Everest. I'm clinging to the good stuff that the most aggressive chemo he's endured in this High-Risk protocol is ALMOST over!! So we'll keep finding the little steps to celebrate so keep moving us forward.