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Brendens Place

Posted by admin on August 24, 2011 in Canning · 0 Comment

Brenden has little purplish spots all over his body. They are mostly on his arms, legs, and stomach. He is bruising really easy, on even the littlest bump. And as he is only 20 months old, those are fairly common.
Called to make an appointment with a friends pediatrician, and told him the symptoms and he wanted me to bring him in the next morning. He called the little purplish spots, “pinpoints.” Appointment is set for 9:30 AM.

July 24, 2011……Brenden had a doctors appointment with Dr. Henry J. Baughman.
Blood work and examination done. Thinks Brenden has Leukemia. White cell count of 90, 000. (4, 000-10,000 is normal.) Referred to T.C. Thompson’s Children’s Hospital (locally) for further tests ASAP.

Examined and more blood work and chest x-rays done at T.C. Thompsons. Confirmed Leukemia diagnosis by Dr. Manoo Bhakta. Referred to Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta, GA to begin induction treatments.

July 25, 2011…..9:00 am packed and left for Atlanta. Brenden ate a banana and drank some water for his last meal before tests.
Arrived at Scottish Rite at 11:00 am. We are at the Aflac Cancer Center. Finally in a room at 2pm. Also bone marrow aspiration and spinal tap done today at 3:30. Will get the results of those tomorrow. IV inserted on top of his left wrist. Veins are too weak to sustain line. Looked for vein in feet, none looked good. Finally called a tech in and IV placed in his sclap. At 5:30 Brenden is eating everything in sight. PB&J sandwich, spoonfuls of peanut butter, grilled cheese sandwich, cookies, a banana, chicken fingers, more cookies, and wears tomato soup. At 9:30 pm he also had a blood transfusion and platelets. At 11:50pm he eats bits banana and drinks some water. No more food allowed tonight.

July 26, 2011…..1:45 am a breathing treatment is done using Albuterol. As a reaction his breathing has quickened. He also gets a Benadryl drip to help him sleep…..More bloodwork at 5:30 am….Spoke with doctor in conference room about starting meds and signed release forms to start chemo.
2:00 pm..preparations begin for Brenden to have pic line placed temporarily in place of aport…he is too seollen to but that in right now, but he will get that before leaving here though…..Antibiotics given for his conjestion…vitals checked.
2:50 pm head downstairs to sign more paper work, check vitals, meet some more doctors….First time we are separated from Brenden…luckily, Brenden is half asleep at this point so he doesn’t seem to be too upset that we are leaving the room.
Surgery….4:00 to 5:30 pm…we get our baby back…fast asleep.
Received another spinal tap while he is still sedated.
The IV is still in his head right now, but will probably be taken out in the morning.
7 -11 pm….Brenden wakes up off and on…..like last night he digs into his food….UN-like last night, he only eats one bite of everything, only one!! Has a fever and is complaining of his legs hurting him, tries to stand and his legs are shaky…..finally just rolls over and
watches E.T. for the first time.
9:00 pm….saline solution in his pic line to make sure it is working correctly…First round of chemotherapy at 9:30 pm….Brenden is still asleep through it all.
11:00 pm…He is awake now and the medications begin. Doesn’t want to eat or drink. Gulps a cup of water. Given an antibiotic for his conjestion and tylenol for the fever. It was 38.1C at 12:45 am. Regurgitates everything……probably because of his fever. He is also given some gel __?__ for his eyes…they are puffy and crusted..he doesn’t seem to mind.

July 27, 2011…..3:00 am Brenden is wide awake. Eats some McDonalds fries and drinks some “Dew.” He is somewhat tempermental, but it is kinda cute…..
(“I want a fry”, “I don’t want a fry”, “I do”, I don’t’…..LOL)
4:45 am….more bloodwork..nice and simple…3 minutes, no pain.
Took the IV out of his head around 5:00…..He also pulled the pic line out approximately
9:00 or 9:30….They just put another IV in, this time in his left hand…taped it up and put a splint on it…..he pulled it out too….Put another IV in his right hand.
Found out that white count was up to 130, 000 when we first got here, but it is down to 30,000 now.

July 29, 2011…..Looks like Brenden will get released from Scottish Rite tomorrow. Next appointment will be this Friday. White cell count is down to 2,000. Had surgery today to put in the port/central line at 11:00 am. After he received the port, they took the IV out of his hand. He is doing fine. Had another dose of chemotherapy at 6:30 pm and prednisone.

July 30, 2011…..Not much happened today. Had a pretty good day overall. Brenden got to eat like normal. Met with the social worker to find out about different support groups, and services that offer financial help, and to help prepare us for the long road ahead at home.

July 31, 2011…..Brenden was released today around 11:00 am. Actually left the hospital around 7:00 pm. Spent the night at Brenden’s grandmother’s house before heading home tomorrow. Brenden loves his MiMi!