Blood in Urine

Friday evening, Brody started crying for us from the bathroom as he was just finishing peeing.  He discovered he had blood coming out and some had gotten on his leg.  The red stuff on his leg is what upset him.  He wasn't as worried about the blood part (in his mind he thought he had simply eaten too much ketchup and that's why it was red but he didn't like it on his leg). Bill and I were of course very alarmed.   We called the hospital and were told since he did not have a fever nor any pain nor was bleeding very much that we needed to bring him in first thing Saturday morning rather than Friday night.  We took him in Saturday morning and they got a urine sample to do a UA and culture.  The results came back clear for infection but there were red blood cells in the urine (blood in urine).  There was not a lot in there though so we were told the first treatment was lots of fluids (hydration).  Brody took cyclophosphamide (chemo drug) and radiation treatments to treat his cancer.  Both of these can cause bleeding in the bladder.  Generally it doesn't happen this far out from treatment but it can.  So if this is the culprit and it's a mild case of bleeding then he may heal on his own with lots of fluids to help keep down irritation of the bladder.  The worry though is that Brody may be relapsing/have resistant cancer cells already.  Brody's doctor stated that he is "very concerned Brody may be relapsing."  Scary, scary, scary.  I took another urine sample in today to be analyzed to see if there is more blood in there and whether there is more or less than the last sample.  We are to take another sample next Monday and keep Brody well hydrated.  If there is still bleeding next week then Brody will get general anesthesia and the urologist will feed a small camera up through Brody's urinary tract to get a real good look at what is happening.  Brody was scheduled for surgery to have his port removed (thing in his chest they administered his chemo through) tomorrow.  But that surgery has been canceled in case Brody may still end up needing that again soon.  All of this is very upsetting.  I can't stop crying everytime I get a second or two to myself.   I am trying to think positive though even though I am very worried.  Deep breaths and just getting the crying out every once in awhile are helping.  I think I'm coping as healthily as can be expected of any Mom going through this.  So don't anybody worry to much about how I'm dealing with things.  I'm handling it.  One thing that helps me though is for folks not to constantly ask me, "How are You doing?"  I know everyone that asks is just trying to be a good friend and let me know that they are there for me if I need someone to talk to.   It's sweet and I really am very thankful to have such wonderful friends and family to help support all of us through this but it really is hard for me personally to talk about my feelings all the time when I am going through something very difficult.  I am putting my feelings right here on this blog and it helps me to write them out but I don't want to talk to everyone about how I am doing when I am just trying really hard to be strong, think positive, take deep calming breaths and think happy thoughts.  That is how cope with this.  So please as a favor to me and to help me, please don't ask if I am ok.  Sounds like a strange request, I know.  But it really did drive me crazy when Brody was first diagnosed having everybody wanting me to talk and discuss how I personally was coping.  It just kept getting me depressed and I don't want to go through it again.  I am a very open person and will share my feelings frequently on this blog but just don't want to talk about them all the time.  Feel free to talk to me about anything but how I'm coping or feeling about the situation.  I am worried, scared, angry, sad, but hopeful that Brody will be just fine and that his bladder is just irritated.  Brody feels perfectly fine right now and is very happy.  I just want to try to focus on just being happy and enjoying spending time with Brody rather than being forced to think about all of my feelings constantly when some of them just aren't pleasant.

On a brighter note, we all had a wonderfully fun weekend at an Indoor Waterpark despite all this recent disturbing blood in urine business.  My sister, Julie, her husband, their 2 girls (Ella and Ava) and my Mom and Dad were able to be there too.  We also took one of the boys friends, Kyle, with us. The boys all had a GREAT time.  So did Bill and I.  It was just so nice to see all the kids just having a blast.  It was really nice to have friends and family there too enjoying the weekend with us. 

Now time to see what we can do for fun today!