From Lisa (Brooks mom) Jan. 7, 2009
Wow, it's hard to know where to start. I’m still trying to process everything. We brought Brooks to the emergency room at Primary Children’s Hospital on Monday afternoon (the 28th). We had barely been admitted when the doctor here dropped the "L" word. What a shock. Brooks spent the first night in ICU really struggling. Tuesday, the doctors officially told us that Brooks has AML Leukemia. (A good site for information is www.curesearch.org, look for children’s AML). We were told that he would need to stay in the hospital for the duration of his treatments which will be around six months. If we are lucky, he may be able to go home for a few days in between treatment phases. Wednesday they took him in for surgery. They checked his spinal fluid for leukemia and put chemotherapy into his spinal fluid at the same time. They did a bone marrow biopsy and then placed a central line so that he could start chemotherapy. He is now on his 8th day of chemotherapy. It has actually been helping him feel better than he did. He has been eating a little better every day. He had lost 10 lbs before going to the hospital. The doctors say he is responding well to the chemotherapy. It's doing its job and killing the cancer cells so far. At the end of the month we will have another bone marrow biopsy to see how well it's working for sure. We found out today that he will be getting a bone marrow transplant if Ethan or Nic are a match for him. We will know more next week about that. Today he is doing as good as can be expected maybe even better than that. We are just taking it all in, day by day, and hoping and praying that each day is good and that we can all stay positive.
Hey Brooks!! We miss you so much and pray every day for your speedy recovery! You are such a strong, outstanding young man and we know you are strong enough to get through this very tough challenge placed before you! We can't wait to see you in a few weeks! Much love Louie, Stacy & kids
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