01/14/2010
by Michael Wells Last night was an uneventful night with a few exceptions. For the past several days Brady has either prematurely entered the “terrible two’s” or has had it with living in his cage of a crib in a hospital. I am not sure if either of these reasons are accurate but WOW has he become a super hyper child. He does not want to stay in his crib, he does not want to wear his diaper, he wants to throw everything in his crib out and he runs back in forth like a money in the zoo. Oh and of course all the while laughing and laughing. Now this would be just adorable except it is literally all day long. I think “they” must have put something in his chemo! Speaking of chemo Brady had his last dosage yesterday and that is just a wonderful thing. This also means no more eye drops and no more Flagyl (metronidazole) because he was “cleared” of C Diff (C. difficile). And finally so far, temperatures have been normal; so all and all life is pretty darn good. The other highlight of yesterday was the staff presented Sherrie with a birthday cake and sang happy birthday to her. The staff is just about the nicest group of people I have ever met. Sherrie and I also had an opportunity for a quick “off site adult conference,” at least that what we call our occasional cocktails at a local restaurant. Yes, yesterday was a “Good Day” and one less in the hospital. While Brady exercised his right to protest, Sherrie celebrated your birthday and chemotherapy at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital – Bristol Myer Squibb Children’s Hospital is completed it was a “Good Day.” We will most likely be here for another 28 days and hope to have several more “Good Days” before Brady receives his next bone marrow biopsy. Please just keep the thoughts, hugs and prayers coming his way; they are working and we thank you ever so, so much…Another day in The Bristol Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (I finally got the name right) and it was marked with some highs and unfortunately some lows. Let’s do the low points first. Brady has to have his broviac catheter replaced. It’s difficult to explain to a 16 month old toddler to go easy with tubes attached to his chest. Anyway, his medical team wants to have this surgical procedure done tomorrow before his blood counts drop too much. No problem except it seems there is a scheduling situation with the anesthesiology department and the earliest Brady could be squeezed in was after 5:00pm. Now here’s the bad part; Brady will be NPO (Latin for: non per os or nil per os,) meaning – nothing by mouth. That’s right he cannot eat anything after midnight. Can you imagine a toddler not having anything to eat all day long? Well, this ignited Brady’s Mom into action like I have never experienced before. Stephen Jones is the President of the hospital and his assistant is Lauren both (after today) have gotten to know my wonderful bride quite well. Joanne Wolsznies (Coordinator of Patient Satisfaction) made a special visit to chat with Sherrie and assure her the hospital understands her dissatisfaction. Needless to say after several conversations with several different layers of management and finally Sherrie suggesting to Stephen Jones that perhaps he could baby sit Brady for a few hours tomorrow the procedure was rescheduled from after 5:00pm to noon. It’s not 7:30am but it sure is a lot better than 5:00 pm. I think the hospital management and staff is learning it’s not smart to tangle with Brady’s Mama. The High Point of the Day: Brady was off his IV pumps for most of the day and this allowed him to roam and I do mean roam free all over the unit and parts of the hospital. I can’t explain just how happy he was when I arrived at the hospital this evening. We walked to the PSE&G Rehab facility to see the fish and then around the unit for hours. After our walk, he had a bath and was almost asleep when I left. Having him able to walk freely was truly a high point. So all and all it was another wonderful and one less day at the hospital. Tomorrow it’s a little surgery and hopefully some more play time in the evening. Until then; Brady is most appreciative for all the hugs, thoughts and prayers you are sending his way – they seem to be working; thank you!!!
“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.