It has been pretty amazing these last couple of days. As bizarre as that sounds even to me. To see and feel and remember how many people care about family has been so refreshing. To know with real confidence that we could call out for just about anything and we would have eager friends come to us. Its incredible. The offers for childcare. For food. For rides. All the open doors. All the lifelines. While our faith is in God and God alone, it is a beautiful gift to have a loving community of people come around us as well 💜 So thank you.
Currently, we have childcare worked out for surgery day and a couple of days following that. Thats the end of school. I have no idea when I’ll be at the hospital in those recovery days, but we organized childcare for those full days, just in case. Hopefully the recovery is very similar to Brady’s last brain surgery, where he only stayed in hospital for two ish days. But the days to follow were VERY quiet and sleepy. Last time, Brady had a lot more mobility and independence, and this time is different. So we’ll see whats to come.
IF you are someone who wants to offer to help with childcare, there are steps, so you have to actually want to 🤣
IF you want to, I need your full name and number, and date of birth. A very recent (not just current, but recent) record check. And then you need to sign a declaration from the ministry, which I have a copy of and can send to anyone. But as you can see, its fussy. That also only gives you permission to babysit at my house or places like the park.
To have kids in your house is a different system. Not huge and difficult per se, but time consuming and a little invasive. They will need to approve your house, and the bulk of that will be requiring gates, possibly door handle covers, and to make sure meds and chemicals are baby proofed or out of reach. Not much else. Just a little fussy.
There is no pressure for these things, but I wanted to put the steps out there as people have offered to babysit and unfortunately its not quite so simple. One of the hardest parts of fostering, honestly.
But. For the time being, child care is managed for the biggest days. We have a meal train set up for the first week ish with the promise of more to come. We just need to wait and see how recovery goes.
Thank you, all, for coming around us in all the different ways 💜 We see your efforts and we really appreciate them.
Let’s go over how we got to the current plan of brain surgery.
Brady had an MRI in February, as he does every three or four months. Everything seemed fine in there. Some spots were visible, some changes, but they were more likely post surgical changes than anything concerning. Some necrosis, maybe. The scan wasn’t clear clear, but there were just some things to watch, which isn’t unusual.
Early in May, we all got eye appointments, and Brady got a fresh prescription. His new glasses came on May 12th. SUPER handsome, hey?? 😍
It was literal days after that when his eyes started to play tricks on him. He seemed a bit extra zoned, or just far less accurate getting around. We gave it a bit of time for him to adjust to his new prescription, going back and forth between old and new, contacts, glasses, etc.
Bradys silver MRI was at the end of May. His 25th, on the 25th 🤣 Remember how hard it was to get the first one?! We got the results a couple of days later. The findings were very similar to the February scan. A spot here or there. We saw the word “stable” a couple of times. We agreed with our family doctor that a “nothing to see here” scan would be nicer than a “keep an eye on it” scan, but its still better than “there’s a tumour in there” scan. So we called it good and forgot about it.
On June 3rd, Brady got a call from the oncologist who regularly orders his brain MRIs. He called Brady out on missing their in-person appointment, which was super strange because we didn’t have one in our calendar. He proceeded to give Brady bad news. New tumour. New growth. Not stable. Must be addressed ASAP. He said he would get a referral to Dr. Fourney, Brady’s neurosurgeon from the last two surgeries, and they would discuss further steps to take. Brady took this as his cue to take the rest of the day off. He came home and told me about the call. We sat together, completely shellshocked. Finally I asked “Well what were we reading before then??” We went back into Brady’s most recent MRI report and sure enough, everything was stable and well. Maybe the oncologist had messed something up and meant to call someone else? Or gave us someone else’s results? We didn’t know about that apparent appointment, either. It had to be a mistake. Brady tried to call back and confirm things, and the cancer centre refused to even give the doctor his message since we had a follow-up appointment already booked for that next week. That was going to be a LOT to sit with for the next eight days. We texted our family doctor about it, and she agreed that it was a VERY stressful spot to be in. She committed to helping us figure it out.
Track was two days later on June 5th. After a day or two of chasing, our doctor called in the afternoon. Brady was at chemo. I was at track. She was in her office. We set up a three way call and she told us the results were, in fact, Bradys. The bad news was ours. Deep breath.
Brady saw the eye doctor again on June 10th. His field of vision had changed drastically. He had lost most of his peripheral vision on his left side. Alarmingly quickly. Luckily, at the office we go to, we are very comfortably among friends 💜 Everyone came around us and absorbed the news. It was nice to process together. We made some plans for what’s to come with his vision, and we confirmed that his eyes themselves are very healthy. Optic nerves, too. But any concrete plan was waiting/hinging on the appointments the next day.
June 11th carried two very important appointments.
First was the oncologist. He is really awesome. He has that same character quality as Dr. Guselle where he can leave a person feeling somehow so reassured even in an impossibly bad situation. He apologized for all the confusion we had felt the week before and explained the disconnect. The February scan results were accurate, AND the May scan results were also accurate. But the radiologist who dictated the results did not compare the two scans. The spot from February had gone from 2cm to 6cm. That is incredibly significant. He spoke to us about our options and told us who he had already been in talks with. But we didn’t lock down any plans because that was the next appointment.
The neurosurgeon was next. Dr. Fourney. He is not known for his bedside manner, but he was incredibly kind to us, as he has absolutely always been. He explained to us exactly what we were looking at.
A new tumour. In the exact same spot as the last one. Right temporal lobe. This time, however, it had begun growing further back, and it was infiltrating the white matter. Really pronounce the H in there, the way fancy people do. It went into the occipital lobe. Lots of things cross in the brain, so in this case, the tumour on the ride side of his brain was getting in the way of the vision pathways of the left side. The obvious choice was to surgically remove the tumour, which oddly, it what we were hoping for at that point. Dr. Fourney agreed, and said he would come alongside another doctor, who he referred to as his protege. Apparently this guy was also his resident and assisted on Brady’s initial spine surgery! Cool, hey?
So we agreed.
Surgery
Four weeks for healing
Radiation to clean up edges
The date has been set for June 24th. Aiming for midday. Noonish. But we all know that lots of things can happen unexpectedly during brain surgeries, and Brady isn’t first on the docket that day. So we expect the unexpected, in all the ways.
In the meantime!
Risks are not too too scary. They are working in the same area as last time, which didn’t leave Brady with any deficits. However, the hhhhhwhite matter is higher stakes. Surgery will not bring his lost vision back. In fact, it could make it a little bit worse than it already is. Or it could pause it in its tracks. Either way, the goal is to stop the progression of the tumour.
Brady is not driving. Which has been a tough pill to swallow. It simply isn’t safe as his eyes get progressively worse. With that, Brady is home 💜 Working at a surprisingly nice setup in our garage as much as he can.
Zak’s has, of course, been incredible. One of the owners came to our house, sat on our couch, and told Brady to let work be last on his list. They will carry us. If you know about how well they cared for us last time, I’m sure you can read between the lines to know how well they will be caring for us again. They are an enormous gift to our family.
The days leading up to surgery day are fairly full up, but frankly even if they weren’t, we’re keeping them as is 😅 As I said earlier – the unexpected, right? We still have some appointments. Some foster things. Meetings. Preparing. And arranging all the childcare for surgery day and those to follow.
I cannot express how overwhelming this whole thing has been. I don’t mean its all been bad, though. Overwhelmed with gratefulness. Overwhelmed with support and love. Overwhelmed with offers to help and pitch in. And the obvious – overwhelmed by the impending surgery and all that comes with it. All around, its been a LOT.
But God is even bigger than all of this mess. So, as always, forward we go. That is the only way. We don’t get to choose our cards, but we do get to choose how to play the ones we’re dealt. And we choose to look UP.
Do you guys remember Pythagoras? The mathematician that Mrs. Dament would dress up as from time to time? I mean. No. 😳 Pythagoras just came to school. For reals.
I don’t know about this rule because of Pythagoras, but Brady taught it to me because its a concept that carpenters really like! It goes like this.
Say you’re hypothetically squaring up a corner. You want 90 degrees, right? So if you measure 3″ up and 4″ across, your connecting line that makes it into a triangle should be 5″. If it is, you got a perfect square! Cool, hey? I know. I used all the technical terms 🤣 Pythagoras Jr over here.
Anyway. This is not the point. Brady has now put a new spin on the 3-4-5 rule.
Let’s start with 5.
Five is the number of tumours that Brady has grown. One in his spine, one in his brain, two more in his spine last year, and now, a new one in his brain.
*sigh*
Four is the number of cancer reoccurrences he has had. 2021, 24, 25, and now 2026.
Three is last. Can you guess what it represents? Three is the number of surgeries Brady will have after next week.
Ok so if this has all been a little long winded and dumb, I’ll give it to you straight.
Brady has grown another brain tumour, and is having it resected next week.
We covet your prayers 💜 They are what we need the very most. I will offer more details in the next day or two regarding how we figured it out, where its at, risks, needs, plans, etc.
If you’ve noticed the blogs have lacked recently, this is why 😅 It is HARD to blog every day when you’re not ready to talk about the thing that is at the top of your mind. We wanted to wait until we knew the date so we could at least answer that one question.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I LOVE this stage for writing. The stage where spelling is a low priority and its more about building the confidence to actually write words and get ideas across!
Kids are bringing home their work from school as the year wraps up, and Wavy brought home her duotang with all of her science stuff in it. She researched a lot of animals, it seems, and she wanted to read me every single word of it. Which took a while but was very cute.
At one point, she struggled with reading a portion that went like this:
“They eat meat and…. beeeeeers.” 🍻
🤣🤣🤣
I laughed SO hard!!! And cried from jealousy, because who doesn’t want meat and beers?
It has already been quite a full day. I went in for a doctors appointment first thing this morning. It wasn’t long at all but it still takes time, and anyone with babies can likely attest to the fact that the rest of the morning is rarely routine. Upon arriving home, babes were all a bit disgruntled, considering they were still fast asleep when I got them up this morning 🤣 Not complaining, to be clear. I expect these things, and I love the life I’ve chosen. Disgruntled babies and all!
So we got home and I worked to appease the babies for a while. Meanwhile, I got a few details organized for the rest of the week, and I registered the girls for ballet in the fall.
Lunch was early because it needed to be for their little annoying sakes 😅 And now they’re all tucked in and I’m taking a minute on my cozy chair before I get back up and clean up their mess, and find myself a little something to eat as well. But first, I’m enjoying the clouds out my window and daydreaming about camping.
If I saw these suckers at camp, I’d be running down to the water to take some pictures. Not that my pictures of the water are anything special, but more than the lake, even, I love CLOUDS. Clouds over the lake are 😘👌
Next is lunch. Making a list. And hopefully washing my hair. Let’s see if I get there 🤞
We woke up to a scheduled power outage. No biggie, except for Bradys lift 😅 No issues, though. He sat out on the lift and had breakfast, and after a while, Dekker and I slowly got him down the stairs. He held the handles, and I stood in front and grabbed the frame above his castor wheels, and we walked him down. Done and done! Easier than expected!
Lunch was chunky chicken salad! Dino nuggies today. So was it actually chunky dinosaur salad? 🤔 No one knows!
It was SO YUMMY. It really fit the bill on this hot sweaty day.
We had some quiet time in between lunch and packing up. The babies napped. The girls went up to the Dahlsjos camper to “help…”
And the boys came down to our camper 🤣
Wavy got bit by something or other on the one side, and spilled off her bike on the other 😬 How she still manages to be SO BEAUTIFUL whilst so beat up is beyond me 🤣
We lost something important on the drive up to the lake. Not altogether surprising, as it was hanging by a thread to begin with.
However! Our lovely friends who happen to also be our mechanics told us exactly what to order to replace it, and it has arriiiiiiived!
Tastes new, too.
We are home. We are tired. We are content. Nothing beats the home bed advantage!
If you think of us this coming week, please say a prayer 💜
Remember that cute thing I posted about yesterday? That Laela thing? Well another fun development with her is that she and I can share SHOES!!! She told me yesterday that was starting to be able to feel the end of her shoes with her toes, but that she figured it would be ok until the end of school. But I knew I had an extra pair I wasn’t going to wear. They fit ME. And then, out of nowhere, they fit HER!!! 🤯 And she was completely stoked!
Bonus points for her happy knees!
I know we’re supposed to hate watching our children age and leave the little years behind, but goodness I am loving certain parts of it. I love watching her grow. She’s a rockstar and I’m VERY grateful for her 💜
Ten more school days and then you can be barefoot every day!
I want to write a beautiful long winded post about our days, but they’ve been a scooch on the taxing side and I’m TIRED.
When those days come around, I go into my photos in search of something to talk about, and I seem to always find myself somewhat overwhelmed with gratefulness for the life we’ve been given. For the people we’ve been given. For the soft moments.
For instance, this one ☝️
Twelve year old girls are HARD. Like, yikes, man. But at this point, Laela was being really extra silly. She had a friend over. They had eaten supper and were about to leave for youth. And Laela was hyper and bugging, but I LOVED that cozy snuggle and selfie moment. I’m so grateful she still wants to be close to me. I love her love. We bicker and struggle but the love is fierce, and I wouldn’t trade it.
