Dear friends,
We have been in Great Ormond Street Hospital for nearly three weeks now. Bram had his second round of chemo last Friday. So far chemo has been kind to him. No big side effects at the moment. Just sensitive skin. He is a very happy boy lately. Smiling a lot, chatting (he calls everyone mama!).
Because Bram is now quite stable we have been able to have him sit in his chair a bit more. And also on the floor on his play at. He can’t sit unaided yet but is making good progress. He really starts to play with his toys again.
The cyst in Bram’s head keeps on refilling itself and causes pressure on the brain. So twice so far the medical team have drained his cyst and this keeps everything nicely under control.
Bram has his own private room, with a bed for either Laura or myself to stay with him. This also gives us a better opportunity to have Max come over to visit and sit in Bram’s room and play. Spending time together with the four of us is something we have missed a lot. It gives us the energy to get through these tough times.
Our life is very complicated at the moment, Laura and I are hardly seeing each other. One of us is in hospital with Bram while the other one is at home with Max. We only have some time together on the days we swap. And even than it is only a couple of hours together in hospital frown emoticon but it is far more important to be there for Max and Bram. Next week I will fly to the Netherlands with Max. Max will go on his summer holidays and stay with my mum and dad for the week. We are sure he will have a great time being away from all this. I will only stay a few days myself, and than come back to be on Bram’s side again, and spend some time with Laura smile emoticon
Bram is now slowly starting to lose his hair. It is noticeably getting thinner. Unfortunately one of the side effects from chemo, but we are looking at it in a positive way. It shows that chemo is attacking his fast growing cells (and hopefully his cancerous cells). We will have to wait till his next MRI scan to get a better idea of the total effectiveness. This should happen in about a month from now. For now we are happy with his current state and progress.
Love,
Jeroen, Laura, max and Bram