Brayden’s Battle

Well I cant believe that tomorrow is July 31st.

It marks another special day for the Sodestrom Fam, as Jen and I celebrate our 5th anniversary and the first one without a hundred other people for a youth retreat.  We will try to make it a special day… Ill bring her coffee in bed and sing her a song (might need to pass on this part, if I truly want it to be special though).  Then we will take off and head to CHOC for the first day of phase four: delayed Intensification.

This is the final push (2 months worth) of every chemo in the book.  Its the last hard sets to really kill this cancer in Braydens body.  We are appropriately cautious as the docs have warned us that this is the hardest phase, not just on Brayden but also on us.  LOTS of appts. LOTS of meds. and really low scores to come like I mentioned before, they expect us to be hospitalized a few times due to his low immune system and getting sick etc.  He currently has a runny nose, so we are hoping that gets over and done with fast.

We will be back in lock down mode for these next 8 weeks.  We thought we were anal before (especially that 1st month) now we are being encouraged to be hyper anal :0 back to no hugs, changing clothes when I get home from work etc.  Brayden will be back on lock down mode at home, so we will be searching for creative ways to entertain him during this stretch.

With more appts. will come more updates.  This is good and bad no news is always good, but we do anticipate more news to report over these next 8 weeks.  And yes more videos too, since many of you wont get your Brayden fixes any other way

In spite of all this, there is a weird excitement Jen and I have as we head into tomorrow morning.  Excited because after this phase He will be declared in REMISSION.  Excited because in 2 months we begin maintenance, something that 4 months ago seemed so fat away.  And Excited because God has yet again gone before us, and knows exactly what this will look like–in spite of rough forecast, He knows, He cares, and He has us covered.

We also continue to be thankful for you.  Because one of the ways he is taking care of us is through you.  Through your love and support.  Through your gracious gifts, which have made the financial burden of treatments and life changes light.  Through your prayers which we feel daily, and rely upon for strength.

So yes we are afraid of the next 2 months, but confident in our Savior and thankful for you our friends.

Signing off…

Sodestroms (Drew, Jen, Brayden and Carson)

We will be enjoying the morning at home, and then heading to the Hospital at 1:30 for a 3:30 scheduled Cesarean.

So we are enjoying the morning with coffee and home videos of Braydens Hospital stays (baby and cancer treatment).  Laughing.  Crying.  Having fun together.

Pics to come later of #2

Thanks for prayers and support

DS

For all of you praying for our 7:45 c-section, please hold the prayers.

We had a fabulous day yesterday enjoy the last of the 3 of us, spending some time together and even a nice lunch date w. Jen and I.  Had some precious time last night praying with Brayden and for his brother etc. we woke up this morning at 445 and got ready to head down to the hospital waited for an hour just to be told that our surgery was “rescheduled” for those of you who know me and love me, I have issues (sin issues) with patience and mercy.

So here was quite the opportuntiy to express trust in God and mercy towards others… I… did alright.  Please do pray, we are now home.  Waiting to hear from the doctor to figure out what is going on, at this point it looks like surgery Friday night at 545–not too thrilled but trying to make the best of it.

Please pray for Jen as she is still fasting just in case we get called back in but obviously hungry and ready to meet our new boy.

Thanks for the support and Love–God as always, is not suprised (although I am)–and his purposes are perfect.

Drew

Tomorrow Brayden becomes a big brother… but before we give you all an update on #2 we are far over due for an update on Braydens Battle –sorry
We are still in phase 3 of the 4 phases of chemo.  He is doing GREAT (hence the lack of blogging, we have been so busy playing and having fun).  Yesterday we had the hardest day of chemo during phase three and he responded wonderful yet again.  Currently he has a runny nose and a is slightly sneezing.  We are praying it is just allergies and that the benadryl etc. w0rks because if it goes away by tomorrow he can meet his new brother (or sister, you never know).  So please pray with us that it is just a simple allergy and it clears up with a few doses.  Due to the allergies, we have been trapped inside but are thankful for a few new toys so he has new things to play and whenever there is a lull we always go back to the basics–BASEBALL… and now hide and go seek.

We are trying to enjoy the remainder of interim maintenance (phase 3) since it is the easiest phase.  We will be in it through July, which is great as we adjust to life with #2 etc.  I will be taking some time off work to help at home with the adjustment, which will be really nice (at least for me, I am sure Jen will be ready for me to go back after a week ).  We even got clearance and encouragement from the doc to take a little mini vacation as long as we are close to home.  So in a few weeks we will go down to San Diego for a couple of days and do the Sea World thing etc.  We are REALLY REALLY looking forward to this, a special time with just the four of us (still weird to say).
Best ways to pray at this point:

1) Glory of God in this situation–”for His name sake”

2.) Continual healing.  He is responding as well as possible so please keep the prayers up

3.) Maximize joy in phase 3… and…

4.) Prepare us for phase 4 (hardest phase, doc has warned us to prepare to be hospitalized a few times etc. although you know us… that is just a challenge–so starting Aug. 1st back to lock down mode, which is fine–for the last 2 month push)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, emotional support, financial support etc.  We still cant believe the love that we have felt throughout this entire trial and are so thankful for all of you.

Until the next time (hopefully this weekend with pics of Brayden the brother)…
Drew and Jen