Awesome days with Rice Owls and Reliant Stadium

Last week before Brady was finished with his proton therapy he got to go to Rice University and Reliant Stadium again.  These were two wonderful outings for him in his last week of treatment and I wanted to make sure to document them here!

Monday, June 20 - Being "port access day" the morning did NOT go well.  Brady was really freaked out by the whole thing but he did calm down enough to push all the buttons and plunge the medicine into his line.  He looked at me several times with that scared "what's happening to me" look he has given so often, but today it was more intense, maybe magnified by the anxiety over the port access.  Anyway, he fought the medicine for a longer period of time than he usually has so I guess he had built up a tolerance to it.  All of this set the emotional stage for the day.  Today was special because he had been invited to visit Rice Stadium again and to meet some of the players and the head coach.  He was so excited to be going he talked about it to several folks at the PTC and of course to all of us.  Once we arrived in the building we met Deborah Reedy, the secretary who put this all together, and 6 of the Rice Owls players.  Mrs. Reedy was so very sweet hugging all of us and the players were all very personable and they presented Brady with a gift bag.  It was filled with a football, a Rice University mini helmet and a Rice ball cap - so unexpected but totally cool!  Brady was so excited and he made sure to show both of his sisters all the stuff.  Then he made sure they all knew that Angelina and Cirstyn were his sisters, introducing them a few times over!  They led us all out to see the weight room where he was greeted by another coach who gave him another Rice mini helmet except that this helmet's "R" was pink in support of breast cancer.  Brady didn't care that it was pink, he thought it was so cool and thanked this gentleman many times.  Soon we were all on the field and Brady told these players he was going to make a touchdown with his football and off he went zooming down to the other end of the field.  They followed and met him in the end zone cheering him on, lifting him up to touch the goal post and all.  Down and back a couple of times, these guys were getting worn out!  They wanted to know about Brady and his story.  They seemed to be so genuinly interesetd in him, but then again this kid is a one-of-a-kind!  He was a football star on university soil and on top of the world!  It was getting pretty warm so they led us into their club house to check out their locker room.  Brady sure did think it was cool and big!  This is where we got a group photo of him with the players surrounding him.  After all this we headed back through the main football building and headed to the car.  We thanked them for taking time from their lives to run with Brady on the field.  It was priceless!  When most of the kids were in their seats I finished up with the car and Larry headed back up to the secretary's desk to thank her for all of this and how special it was for Brady.  She was so gracious, telling him how beautiful our family was and meeting him and all of us was something she would never forget.  She even elaborated that the players had commented about how infectious Brady's laughter was and how he really brought light to the field and warmed their hearts.  I was shocked considering they are all in their early 20's living the college life!  When he came back he brought along the head coach, David Bailiff, out to meet everyone.  I had been overcome with emotion already while i was waiting for Larry in the car so I slipped on my sun glasses and got out of the car to shake his hand.  He could tell I was emotional about the whole thing and asked if he could give me a hug.  He was such a huge man, tall and broad, like a bear but he was very warm and encouraging to us.  I know this is an experience that Brady will never forget, but as his parents we will never forget what they did for him and what that has meant to us.  All I could think of while waiting for Larry was that Brady's doctors have told us he won't ever be able to play contact sports and that while he may not play football with a uniform on he has now had the incredible opportunity to score touchdowns on a university field!  This is an item that many grown men have on their bucket lists and probably won't ever get to check it off while our 4 year old son can say "been there, done that"!  I was just really taken back by all of their hospitality and warm spirits!

Wednesday, June 22 - We were invited for a private tour to Reliant Stadium by Herb Kelly, the tour director at Reliant.  This all started from Larry contacting him to find out if the field would be down so we could go for a general tour because Brady said he wanted to run on the Houston Texans field since we came to Houston.  The first week we were there we took a tour but he field wasn't down and he had asked about it almost every week since then.  SO, dear old Dad made the call and Mr. Kelly asked that if we could come on this date we could do a private tour and only see the things we wanted to rather than the whole thing.  Anyway, there was a soccer tournament to be held there the next day so the field wasn't striped for football but rather, "futbol"!  When we arrived we paid for our tour at the ticket boothe and then inside we were greeted by Mr. Kelly.  He presented Brady with a gift bag full of neat Texans things.  One of which was an autographed photo of Andre Johnson sent to Mr. Kelly epecially for Brady!  Man that boy was excited thanking him over and over again!  When we got out to the field there were all sorts of people putting things together preparing for this soccer tourney and Cirstyn just started to walk right out onto the grass like no big deal!  She almost stepped right onto a wet painted stripe.  Brady wasn't going to get to run on the field but Mr. Kelly spoke with the greens keeper and they told him to run wherever he would like!  We got some cute pictures and video of him out there with his Daddy as it was a special moment for both of them.  When they came back to the warningn track where the girls and I were I could tell his eyes were red like he had tears in them.  Sweet moments!  During our tour there were many Reliant staff who already knew of Brady's coming and were calling Mr. Kelly to find out where we were to meet him.  Two gentlemen from their marketing dept brought Brady a sideline cap for the upcoming season and a sweet card!  He thanked them a bunch for the hat and then proceeded their card out loud.  They were shocked that he could read and that a kid was taking time to read the card!  It was so funny!  We got lots of neat pictures of our time and of Brady.  Again, it was another emotional time for this mommy seeing her son being embraced by others, strangers, who seemed to be so touched by his sweetness and his light!  I am still so amazed at what all these folks have done for Brady, things they will never realize, and how we will never forget them for it! 

Again, I am reminded of how blessed we are with our families, friends and other extensions and am humbled by all of your support for our family during all this time.  It makes it a little easier to stay as positive as possible and to say to ourselves that he will be part of that 50-55% cured of this type of horrible brain cancer!  Sometimes it is hard to remember, or is it just easy to forget, that we should live each day to the fullest because who knows when it will be our last and we are striving to do that with our three little angels!

Right now we are in the van headed home! Brady's last proton therapy was this morning and he was so excited that his whole family went with him. It was an early morning but so worth it for the girls to be with him on his last day. He was so proud telling the few people there his sisters were with him. Daddy to him back to the machine room where they administer treatment and he did relatively well today. He has had an issue with the sedation part this week as he built up a tolerance to it and he has fought longer. The girls behaved beautifully though so it was relatively stress free while waiting for big boy. We added a page about Brady along with his picture to thr Pediatric Proton Stories book and his picture was one of him with his Rice University things. He looks so cute with his infectious smile! Once he was done I went back to speak with the doc one last time and she was really pleased with his overall health so that was a good thing to hear heading out. Before we left he rang the gong for peace and tranquility and the techs let him choose some really cool toys for himself and the girls. We got a couple of good pics and I'll post later tonight. Brady showed his cards to Linda, a very sweet woman who enjoyed our loud kids, and we said goodby to Jaxon and his mom on our way out as well.
 
When we were almost to I-45 Herb from Reliant called about the picture we left for him. He said it was the best gift he had ever received like this and he is going to hang it proudly on his wall. That was so great to hear since Larry and Brady didn't get to give it to him personally. He also asked when we were leaving because Andre Johnson was in town and they would be contacting us. Herb wasn't sure if that meant to set up a meeting or just a phone call. SO we decided to eat breakfast in Houston and see. Well after waiting around for a few hours home sounded a lot better so on the road we went! We are travelling like nomads with our van packed to the gills! Its quite comical! We are about 50 miles out from Dallas so this road trip is almost over!

We headed home to Fort Worth for the weekend and had a mostly relaxing time.  The kids were very excited to be home playing in their playroom, backyard and running up and down the stairs.  I think it took them 10 minutes to make a complete mess of the house!  We all enjoyed just being at home for a 1.5 days. 

Brady has had a great start again to the week and now we are in week 5.  He has adjusted so well to having his port accessed and then with the daily line access.  The techs just love him because he is so funny and always talking about football and Andre Johnson.  Today he saw Dr. Grosshans, the proton doc, for his weekly checkup.  Dr. Grosshans was very pleased with how well Brady is doing, how great he looks and how much energy he seems to have.  Brady has continued to gain a little bit of weight (ounces) each week rather than losing weight from a low appetite.  His blood work is excellent as his hemoglobin levels are up and other levels are in a good place.  Also, his scalp is only a bit pink and he doesn't think that Brady will have any blistering or other physical side effects.  There was a doctor visiting from St. Jude whom Dr. Grosshans had look at Brady's case and that doc was quite pleased with Brady's case.  All of this is more reassuring for us!

As of today he has 8 more treatments left and he will be finished with his last treatment next Friday, 6/24.  Dr. Grosshans said that he usually has patients come back for a checkup a month or so after proton therapy.  He is going to have Brady back in 6 months because he has complete confidence that Dr. Murray, pediatric neuro-oncologist at CCMC, to follow up with Brady initially because of his experience and reputation.  We thought that was so cool!!  It reaffirms that Brady is in good hands!!

Great news today and hopefully to continue!!

This past weekend was kind of quiet not doing much of anything.  Sunday we did decided to get into the car and head down to the Kemah Boardwalk for a couple of hours.  Brady and Cirstyn really enjoyed the carousel while Angelina and Daddy took pictures.  Then we all headed down to the train for a ride around the boardwalk.  They all thought that was really cool!  They liked looking out off the pier into the water, watching the boats go by and counting the seagulls.  "Just like Nemo, Mommy" as Cirstyn would say!  We shared a slushy and snowcone and played boardwalk games.  It was hot but we all had a good time!

Today Brady's almost half way through the 4th week of treatment and it's been a good one so far.  Monday's are port-access day so that means we apply the "numbing" cream to the skin over Brady's port so he doesn't have to feel the poke of the access line going in.  Well this week come heck or high water he WAS NOT having the cream!  I don't know if it stings or the sensation of his skin numbing up is uncomfortable but he had a complete fit begging for "no cream!"  SO, with that we headed to the proton center with no cream.  The nurse tried one last time to talk him into it but with no avail.  I have to say, this kid must have his Dad's pain tolerance because he didn't even cry when they stuck the line right into his skin!  He wimpered a little but then he pushed all the buttons on the machine and the medicine into the line to send him off to sleep.  Such a trooper!  Today was the same with accessing his line, no fussing just off to sleep.  Dr. Grosshans saw him today for his weekly visit and was pleased with how he is doing.  He said the patches of hair gone would probably get bigger but he didn't think Brady's scalp would blister from the treatment like some kids do.  His scalp is only a little pink right now so hopefully it doesn't get anymore than that.  Good news from the doc!

All this time we have been here I have forgotten that we are very close to an Ikea store!  So, today we decided to go and browse so we all could get some exercise without completely roasting in the heat.  I love that store!  The kids were shopping for their rooms picking out things we need to take home with us.  I guess we may be visiting the Ikea in Frisco later in the year for those things!  They did find a couple of neat toys though that we couldn't live without. 

On a different note, Brady has been a bit of a traitor!  He's routing for the Miami Heat to win the NBA championship over the Mavs because they have "Little" bron James.  Yes, LITTLE, no Lebron!  It's so cute and he was excited to find out yesterday morning that the Mavs lost on Sunday night, although tomorrow morning he's going to be sadly disappointed! 

We received a couple of fun surprises in the mail this weekend and I'm reminded of how blessed we are. Thank you for all the cards, care packages, gift cards, encouragment and love! You have made being away from home easier and the stress of all of this much more manageable! ♥ ♥ ♥

I am waiting for Brady's treatment to finish this morning so I thought I'd post really quickly. His neuro-psych evaluation went well yesterday and the dr told Larry that Brady paid attention longer than she expected for a 4 yr old! He noticed some hairs on the table and asked the doc what those were to which she responded "nothing you need to worry about". Well we are in week 3 of proton therapy and Mr. Brady's hairs are coming out little by little. There are hairs lining the inside of his hat so I'm glad we got his hair cut shorter! We are going to start talking about that today and how mommy's hair is always coming out so he won't feelawkward about it.


Angelina had a little drama this weekend that had to be taken care of. She had a partial seizure while playing in the floor. Nana tried to "wake" her up because she thought Angelina was sleeping but when she didn't respond Larry tried to get her to move her eyes or any response and she didn't for about 10 or 15 seconds. So I talked with our favorite neuro-nurse Sheila yesterday and it was decided to increase her seizure medicine since she has gotten bigger from the last increase. I know this is part of the whole seizure-disorder process but there's a part of me that is trying really hard not to worry about this right now and hold it off until we get home. Brady's almost done so that's all for now!