07/24/2010
by Michael Wells Wow, what a crazy day or should I say night? For most of the day Brady continued to follow much of the script that has been laid out for him; his temperature continues to spike at scary ranges over 103˚, his breathing is somewhat labored and his eyes are puffy and he is sleeping a good portion of the time. Well, last night around 8:00pm Brady woke from one of his naps and wanted to go for a car ride. No problem, we drove around for about an hour as he quickly fell asleep in his car seat. When we returned home, Brady was wide awake and started with his newest ‘game’ – 2 minutes on the couch, 2 minutes on the floor, 2 minutes in his high chair, 2 minutes back on the floor, 2 minutes back on the couch and all the time requesting ‘things’ – eggs, coke, tractor, squash, woof-woof, etc. Now, if all things were normal, Brady would have perhaps been since to bed with this type of behavior but things are far from normal and we are trying to make him as comfortable as possible. While during one of his many trips to his high chair, Sherrie noticed he was bleeding. Sure enough one of his connectors on his broviac catheter must have gotten caught on something and was disconnected to the main line and blood was seeping out. We (Sherrie) managed to get everything reconnected and back together but for safety sake, we (Sherrie) phoned the hospital to speak to one of the nurses. They in turn, had one of the team immediately on their way to our home to check things out. While we were waiting for Nurse Lisa to arrive, Brady requested to go for a walk. So, at 10:00pm we were walking up and down our cul-de-sac and once again Brady fell fast asleep. When Nurse Lisa arrived around 11:00pm, Brady was awake and stayed awake until sometime around 2:00am. It was a “fun” night! Sherrie received compliments from Nurse Lisa as everything was re-connected properly and Brady was in no danger. Brady consumed 2 containers of squash and a glass of coke as we watched 2 or 3 Elmo videos. Wow, what a night! Much earlier Friday, Brady was at the day clinic receiving a transfusion of platelets. All went well and while it was not confirmed, Sherrie and I are worried that this could be the last time he receives them. He is not longer getting whole blood transfusions as they no longer help him. Stopping platelets will be next and that will be that. This disease is just the work of the devil! I have to catch up on “thank you’s” but I am going to save that until I am in a better frame of mine. Everyone has been so kind and generous. It’s 5:00am and I think I will try to catch a couple of hours of rest. Until next time; prayers, hugs and good thoughts (unlike transfusions) will hopefully never stop. Please continue them as each day passes, Brady needs are getting more and more critical.“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.