Prayers have been answered!

God has heard each and every one of our prayers, and he answered them. Today we heard the news that we've been praying for... Brent's white blood cell counts are exactly where they should be. An average Joe's counts are anywhere between 5 - 10. Brent started out 10 weeks ago with counts of 102. Today, his counts were at 4.1. That is so amazing to me!

So, I know what you're all thinking... what does this mean? Well, once we got Dr Wender to quit talking about OJ Simpson and the Steelers, I asked him that very question. He explained to us that it's way too early to take Brent off his chemo pills. If he were to go off the pills at this point, there's no way to tell if it would last or not. In all reality he will probably be on the pills for a couple years. After his trip to the ER a little over a week ago, they lowered his dosage down to 300mg/day. That's where they're keeping it at. He hasn't been having many side effects at this dosage, so we were OK with that.

It's amazing to think that we're as far as we are in only 10 weeks. How many cancer patients can say that? Like I said, God has really answered prayers. We realize that we have a long way to go, and I'm sure every day isn't going to be as positive as today was. There are going to be days where he's not feeling well, where either of us are frustrated with the situation, or where we just can't help but ask why. We know there will be those days. But if God can bring those numbers down so quickly, then He can certainly help us through our "down" days.

We want to thank each of you for continuing to pray for our family. We really feel blessed to have each of you in our lives.

OK, so an update on the boys... (I can't do this and not mention them)...

Karter is getting his two year molars. I feel terrible for him and his sore little mouth. He is talking like a little champ lately. Every day there are new words. His hands are "foody" (aka filthy). His new favorite animal is an "ebra" (aka zebra), and he now calls Brent "B" or "Daddy B".

Brody is growing like a weed. His personality is really starting to show. He smiles so easily, and he giggles, too.

They just make you feel like you're doing something right in this world.

We are getting ready for Brody's big day... baptism. On February 8th, our little man will be baptized. This is going to be such a special day! I can't help but think that it could be somewhat of a sentimental day, too. When Karter was baptized, my Dad came to church that morning and surprised us by acting as the elder for baptism. It was SO special, and I love those memories. I can't help but be sad when I think of what an amazing man that Brody will never get to meet on this earth. Both boys will hear lots of stories about this amazing man named Grandpa.

OK, enough for tonight. Thanks for checking in!

Kelli

Another First

I just had to quickly tell you all that Brody giggled last night. He's gotten close so many times before, but last night his giggle came from the tips of his toes. I was holding him and Brent was tickling him. He just could barely contain himself. It was so stinking cute!

This Wednesday we have another appt at the Cancer Center. They'll check where Brent's counts are at and go from there. I am nervous for this one. I feel very confident that his numbers are going to look great! ... But then I'm worried that I'm going to be very disappointed if they're not. Please pray for good results and that we ask all the questions that are filling our minds.

Have a great week!
Kelli

Part II

OK, so sorry that it took me a little while to get Part II to all of you. I'll explain later what's been going on. First... the pictures...

Here's our family picture from Christmas. You'll notice that only one of us has good taste! :-)

Talk about crazy hair... It's funny, because I have one of Karter when he was about this same size. I'll have to see if I can dig it up to show you.

Saturday night we went to our nephew's birthday party.

Pizza Hut and swimming... Karter was shot by the end of the night!

Happy 3rd birthday, Kole!!!

Who do you suppose was having more fun in the next two pictures?
Karter just had an absolute ball, but it doesn't look like his Daddy is hating it either.

OK, so now for other things that have been going on in our crazy life...

Sunday morning while we were sitting in church Brent started having quite sharp pains in his stomach. I could tell it was more than just an excuse to get out of church... :-). He just kind of dealt with it all day long. Finally at about 8:30 that night I called up to the doctor that was on call in Sioux City. Sure enough... we headed up to the ER at Mercy yet that night. They did some tests and decided the pain was because he was dehydrated. They gave him a bag of fluids by IV, but that was about all they could do for him. After that the pain changed to more of a dull, constant pain. Not that anyone would want that either, but it was better than the sharp pains.

Monday morning Brent called up to the cancer center to let them know what had been going on. They decided to take him off his chemo pills for a few days. We're hoping that his body gets back to normal, and then Brent has to call back to the CC on Thursday to see what happens next.

No one really is excited about a late night trip to the ER, but we did find something positive in it. We asked the dr what his white blood cell count was at... and we're waiting to confirm at our appt with Dr Wender on Jan 28th, but I'll just say that we're very hopefull!!!!!

OK, I need to end this post so that I can go home and find my 3 guys who are waiting for me at home. This is my favorite part of the day!

Have a great night everyone!

Kelli

Karter's Birthday

Yes, we're still here. I know, I know... it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I'm so sorry. I have to admit, this kind of fell to the back burner once I went back to work. So I may have to do this update in 2 parts.

Part 1

On January 9, my little Karter Henry turned 2. Seriously, where did the time go? He was so excited about his birthday! He helped get ready for his big day by making cupcakes to take to daycare. That was fun for him! Then, since his birthday was on a Friday, we planned a Chuck-E-Cheese birtday party for him. As it turned out, we got tons of snow that Friday. The weather was pretty crappy, but we still headed up to Sioux City. Unfortunately, the snow and a basketball game meant some of our family couldn't be there. Those of us that did make it had a good time. Since my brother drives the snow plow, he kept us up to date on the road conditions. (Thanks Jason!)

As for an update on Brent... We went back to see Dr Wender about 1 1/2 weeks ago. They reduced his dose down to 400mg/day (he was at 500mg/day). Unfortunately the side effects stayed about the same. It really just varies from day to day. We go back to see Dr W on Jan 28th. Hopefully his numbers are still going down. That is just so encouraging!!!

Anyway, here are a few pictures for you all to enjoy! I'll try update again later today. I have to get going, because my mom and us girls are going to see a movie this afternoon.

Karter in bed with his stuffed pony

Brent was in heaven at ChuckECheese. You can't really see it, but I was trying to capture the long chain of tickets that he had just won! I guess I know where to have his next b-day party...
Karter rode this horse (a.k.a. dootch) quite a bit that night.
Who wouldn't want to ride in the car with C-E-C?

Cat and Mouse

OK, so I just had to show you all this little video of Karter. It's hilarious! We paused our movie, and so the DVD logo was bouncing around the TV. Can you say "Cat and Mouse"?