Dreams Come True

No, this cake was not Brendan's "dream come true."  But is was for the rest of us.  Thanks, Stacey and Travis for the wonderful party and cake.  Travis tempted Brendan with a smidgen of cake, and Brendan almost tried it.  But in the end Brendan wouldn't even taste it.

 Brendan's "dream come true" was having all weekend with his cousins.  The whole time he was in the hospital he kept asking when they were coming.  Christmas break seemed so long away for him.  Once, he even called up his Aunt Kim and asked if they couldn't come just a little earlier.

 Brendan was in good spirits today -- once he got going.  He slept in until 10 a.m. and slowly woke up, bathed, and got ready for church.  He protested wearing gloves and a mask to church -- "But my blood counts are up!"  But we insisted.  "Better safe than sorry!"

 Brendan brags that he can eat and talk at the same time.

 The best time to slip in a little extra nutrition is when Brendan is busy paying attention to something else.  Cousins work the best to distract him.  When he is distracted, he rarely throws up.  Sometimes he doesn't even notice when I'm giving him something to eat.

 Tonight it was getting late, and some of the kids were ready to go home.  But we just felt we couldn't deprive Brendan of the time he's waited months for.  So we indulged him and stayed as long as he wanted.

I can't believe we are down to the last four days of radiation.  Sometimes it seemed like we would never get here.  Much of this week will be driving down to Salt Lake for treatment, then home again in the afternoon.  Brendan doesn't want to miss any moments of the break with family and cousins here.  Other than blood draws on Monday and Wednesday, radiation is the only thing he has on his schedule.  We are going to enjoy this "bonus week" and try to get some extra pounds on Brendan.  His 3rd round of chemo was supposed to be tomorrow (Dec. 28th), but was graciously moved to Jan. 4th so Brendan could attend his cousin's wedding this week.  It will also allow Brendan to finish up radiation before starting chemo.  This next round of chemo will involve Cisplatin and a second chemo drug (etopocide) and a 5-day hospital stay.  So we will enjoy this week and celebrate having radiation done on Thursday, the last day of 2015.  It's a great way to start the New Year!