03/29/2010
by Michael Wells
Day +9 was another rough day for our baby. Brady continued to spike temperatures, had excessive bleeding (nose & gums) and he vomited everything he consumed. His blood counts continued to be low and so he had another platelet transfusion followed by a transfusion of red blood. He also had Lasix added to his drug regiment to reduce the amount of fluids he is retaining. This is all combined with spikes in blood pressure, increased heart rates and vomit containing globs of blood. Just another typical Sunday at the Wells’.
Throughout this insanity and as we are all torn-up watching him experience the pain, Brady continues to be Brady. His latest accomplishment is learning the colors, red, yellow and blue in French. He also had learned how to put on his own socks and shoes even though this is a rather infrequent event.
I just received a phone call from Sherrie (I went home yesterdays evening) and she told me Brady is running a temperature of 101.5˚. His nurse just took blood cultures and by early morning we will know if Brady has an infection. He is a very sick baby…
On the much lighter side; Nat Clymer Photography of East Millstone, NJ periodically photographs every pediatric cancer patient at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. I’m not sure which organization funds this but it rather nice to see all the children having their photos taken by a professional. Well, Nat has been asked to exhibit some of his work at The New Jersey Blood Center on New Street in New Brunswick for its grand re-opening on April 8th. He asked us if he could include Brady’s photos and we agreed, the insert is one of several shots of Brady in much happier times – 2 days before being released from the hospital.
So as this wretched disease continues to ravage our baby as we are told “this is all to be expected and not to worry” – please continue with your prayers, hugs and good thoughts as Brady is going through a hellish time.
by Sherrie Wells I hope you don’t mind a change in authors but Michael is working very late tonight so I thought that I would write tonight’s entry. Brady had a really bad day today. His temperature has been around 103° since 4am and has lasted all day. The only things that we can do for the fever is to give him Tylenol, cool baths, and ice packs. None of which thrill him at all. He has been placed on three more antibiotics. He has been vomiting blood and was given more anti nausea medicines. He needed platelets this morning. This afternoon he developed all sorts of rashes on his skin and petechiae. This alerted the doctors to give him more platelets so that he would not experience a brain hemorrhage if he hit his head against the metal crib. He has not had anything to eat or drink all day. However, because of the amount of fluids being pumped into him, they gave him lasix in hopes that nothing leaks into his cavity where it is not supposed to be (i.e. lungs). It is 10pm and he finally fell asleep. Unfortunately, they will need to monitor him very closely throughout the night which means waking him on a regular basis to give medicines, check vitals, take his temperature, see if he has developed any skin rashes, diaper changes at least every two hours, etc. I am so glad that day +10 is almost over…
“8 Years Later—Still No Cure for Pediatric Cancer” is a series of posts revisiting the journal kept by Sherrie and Michael Wells during the cancer diagnosis and treatment of their son, Brady Michael. Hopefully these entires will provide an understanding of the journey families face when dealing with these horrific diseases and of the important work the Hugs for Brady Foundation does.