Cancer Is No Respecter of Weekends

As you can see, Brayden’s appearance has changed a bit over the past couple weeks, but that smile is still as contagious and genuine as ever. His hair had gotten really thin so he decided to just put it out of its misery and rock the bald look. We like it! 

Over the past 10 days, Brayden has received a total of 8 transfusions (8 units). His hematologist/oncologist is somewhat puzzled as to why his body isn’t maintaining his red blood cell count for a longer interval after each transfusion. Prior to the first transfusion, he was very weak and was having a lot of dizzy spells. After that, he has actually felt pretty good, considering all that is going on in his body. You can tell in the pictures the difference in his coloring between the first transfusion to the last – that’s not the lighting. It’s so good to see him looking a little stronger the past few days.

Also over the past 10 days, his white blood cell count and neutrophils (fancy word for the immune system) have dropped to the point where he is at high risk for infection. We’re missing going to church and other normal activities, but we’d be avoiding most exposure even if Covid wasn’t a factor. We consider it a small sacrifice for keeping him as safe as possible.

We’d love prayer for his counts to maintain where they should be, as well as for him to be protected from any infection or illness. Praise God with us that he has had minimal nausea! This is a huge praise because he lost so much weight that he really needs to eat. His appetite has been surprisingly hearty, so we are very thankful for this answer to prayer!

Just a quick update for today. This has been a pretty exhausting week with being at SCCA almost every day. It’s a long drive, but the care he’s receiving is worth it. It feels good to be at a place where the team he’s working with only treats his kind of cancer. They are very confident of the next steps and there isn’t any guesswork (aside from the curveballs that Brayden’s body is throwing here and there).

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We love you all!