Brayden’s Battle

As many of you know we are currently in Delayed Intensification (DI), we have been warned that this is the hardest phase, and to expect to be hospitalized a few times etc. Well here we are getting ready for day 19 tomorrow (one third of the way through this 56 day phase) and are pumped to praise God for the great first third.

He has had some rough patches: a little nausea, spit up, meds were a PAIN that first week (but tonight went down great with my newest coffee concoction )… but overall we are so thankful for how well he is doing, as are the doctors.  We know it could be so much worse.  He is doing well enough that we are even planning/dreaming of going up to Redding for a little Vaca at the end of the phase–assuming he is doing alright.

Please keep praying for the Chemo to kick the you know what out of any cancer left in his body and that at the end of this phase he will be officially classified as being in remission!!!!!!  Pray also for meds for the rest of this week and that his body gets ready for the next dosage coming the following week; as it is all new stuff to his system (both in the hospital chemo as well as at home chemo).  Please also pray for God to guard our hearts and minds.  It seems like the hair (which has held on so well) may soon be coming out–all along they said it would go (actually it was supposed to be gone by the second week).  We’ve only seen a few pieces come out, and this happened once before, so who knows what will actually happen.   But we continue to pray for health over hair–but hair sure has been a WONDERFUL blessing to this point.  It has allowed us to not have that constant physical reminder of what Brayden is going through.  So if God grants our prayer for hair–GLORY be to him, and if not–GLORY be to him.  We know the hardest part is still yet to come but for now we are SO THANKFUL and appreciate all the prayers and manifestations of help.

Finally I wanted to share our schedule from the past 2 1/2 weeks as we have been trying to do fun things with little man as we are in lock down mode.  So everyday we try something fun, it is amazing the little things we so often take for granted.

Here are a few of Brayden’s notes…

7/31: counts were high, so we went to the park (Happy Anniversary mom and dad)

8/1: counts still high friends/family visited (Carson and I were in bed by 815, mommy and daddy got to play cards:) )

8/2: got to go to CHURCH, but daddy doesn’t seem to pay attention to me there its otay I still love him

8/3: Bamma (grandma) Kathy came to play for the day–it was SOOOO FUN

8/4: I know this may sound weird in a few years, but daddy and I took a shower

8/5: Mommy and I got to plsy in our pool and then  I “had” to mow the lawn (dad says its why he had kids

8/6: We called Chuck E Cheese and they let us in because no one goes in the morning (although I’d eat pizza in the morning if mommy wasn’t so mean–maybe that’s the steroids talking) IT WAS AWESOME!!

8/7: Bath time with Daddy… too many owies outside so we stayed in and played in the tub.

8/8: Our friends told us about this forest of redwoods hidden in YL, we didn’t believe them–but are SO glad we checked it out anyway.  It was so fun and daddy kept saying how it reminded him of home, I think he got choked up

8/9: I got to go out to LUNCH today after daddy was done with church… it was rad

8/10: Today we rented movies… my favorite was James Bond.  There was a boat chase, plane chase and of course a car chase… hahaha–just kidding–my parents wouldn’t let me watch that movie.  They are too old fashioned.

8/11: Today I suprised daddy at the office!!!  I love Church, sometimes I wish we could live there–but daddy would go crazy I think

8/12: I went with dad to Trader Joes today, it was fun–but what a downer.  I couldn’t touch anything or be by anyone–can you say par-a-noid

8/13: We had coffee and played cards inside mommy’s BIG car at the Sbucks parking lot tonight (I know its how they give me yucky medicine, but I play along because they make it taste good )

8/14: Chemo day–YUCK, but on the bright side I had french fries for breakfast, french fries after chemo, and mommy made me french fries for dinner….mommy said that today was a special day and it wouldn’t happen ever again:)

8/15: Sbucks twice for mommy and daddy!!! And I got to watch a lot of cars and trains

8/16: Took a drive to church, helped daddy make dinner–always an adventure

8/17: Sbucks and cards again… also had some friends come over and clean the house for mommy and daddy it was so good for them… they are becoming crazy clean freaks

FINAL THOUGHT: Have you ever tried to get stuck at a light with a train?  Normally if I see a train coming I rush to get through before the gaurd rails come down–NOW I slow down because it is fun to watch trains (expecially when you cant do anything else)!

Well today is day 12 of this 2 month phase and so far Brayden is doing AWESOME!!!!  So well that yesterday I am sitting at the office meeting with the Big Boss and here’s this little knock on the window and little man came for a visit.  They do expect his numbers to plummet fast but we are thankful for the initial great response.

This week we are on a reprieve from at home oral meds.  (they start back up Friday ) and have been a real struggle so please continue to pray that he takes them well and doesn’t lead to vomiting etc.  But seriously LOTS to praise God about so far not just in this phase but the entire treatment.  We cant believe that it was 133 days ago that He was diagnosed (but whose keeping count).  And although the road at times ahead looks intimidating (at least in length) we know we can rest surrounded by His presence as well as yours.

We have lots of pics to post, especially of the new baby and Brayden, and I will try try try to get them up in the next couple of days.  If I forget, just keep sending me those nasty hate emails, until I get the picture(s) –pun intended–

Until then, we enjoy the week, and wait till Friday for more Hospital Chemo.  I am taking a week of vacation spread over 5 of the next 6 Thursdays which will allow me to be home and help a little more–so we are thankful for that.

Thanks for the continual prayers and support!!!

Sodestroms

So far we are surviving :)  Friday went great and he seemed to be doing alright through the weekend.  Meds have been tough, but yet again JEN IS AMAZING and continues to find ways to get them down.  Please keep praying for us that this is not a burden as there are nights where it literally takes 2 hours to get 1 medication in him.

Another way to pray for us is this afternoon at 11:30 (guess just a few hours) we will be going back to CHOC for another big round of chemo… they call this PEG.  It is a couple of shots of chemo into his legs, which last time was pretty rough on him.  We will stay in the hopsital for at least a few hours as he recovers, but hope to get home in the afternoon assuming he does well.  After today the next chemo doesnt come till TR labs and then FR chemo again, to couple with all the at home medication he is already on.

So far so good though, 4 days into the tough part and we are kicking strong.

Thanks for prayers and support

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