Praise God, Jeremy is feeling much better today.  He hasn’t complained once about belly pain and he’s lost some more weight – again, hopefully water weight.  We measured his belly and it looks like it’s smaller, too.  He ate a little bit more today and finally got some homemade soup from grandma and grandpa.  He was able to keep it all down without any vomiting episodes.  They’ve also tapered off the IV nutrition and in about two days it should be off completely.  Good news for Jeremy’s liver.  Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Praise God, Jeremy’s CMV is down to an undetectable level.  They’ve reduced the medication, foscarnate, to somewhere between therapeutic and prophylactic levels.  This is great for Jeremy’s liver and kidneys – the less medication, the better.

Jeremy had an x-ray and ultrasound done today to monitor the condition of his lungs and liver.  The x-ray results came back and showed a little bit of fluid in his lungs.  The docs don’t seem too concerned with it.  But for us, anything that’s in a place it shouldn’t be makes us uncomfortable.  The ultrasound results came back and showed that his liver is still enlarged, but just slightly less so.  Blood is flowing properly through the veins in his liver, a very good thing.  His spleen is also enlarged.  There could be a few reasons for this – his marrow creating red blood cells or possibly a virus.  Our nurse practitioner said she’ll follow up with the doctors tomorrow to see if they want to test for anything additional.  They will continue to monitor via blood labs.  Praise God, his liver and kidney numbers continue to look good.

Praise God, Jeremy’s counts continue to trend upward.  His white count is going up and his red blood cells are holding.  The platelets are a different story.  He almost made it a whole day without any transfusions.  Right before bed, as we were changing him into his pajamas, we saw that his central line site had blood oozing out again.  It was less this time than last, but it’s still a very scary thing to see.  Still not sure why that’s even happening.  A dressing change was done, but it looks it’s still bleeding a little bit.  His nose started oozing a bit, too.  At the time of this writing, we are still waiting for platelets, but hopefully they will be here soon to help him with the bleeding.

We continue to be amazed at the Lord’s daily mercies.  When Jeremy woke up this morning and exclaimed, “Hey, my belly feels better,” we knew it was God’s doing.  Jeremy himself threw his hands up and yelled out, “Praise the Lord!” There is still a lot of uncertainty around the next few days as we wait for the condition of his liver, spleen, and lungs to improve, then more uncertainty during the first two years of recovery post transplant, but we wait on the Lord and know that He is good.

“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to His name for that is pleasant.” (Psalm 135: 3)

Update @11:40pm: Jeremy is getting a platelet transfusion.

Praise God:

  • He is good
  • Jeremy remains fever free
  • Jeremy is eating a little more each day
  • Jeremy didn’t need any pain medications today
  • blood continues to flow properly through Jeremy’s liver
  • Jeremy’s liver has reduced in size
  • Jeremy’s liver and kidney numbers continue to look good
  • Jeremy’s counts continue to trend upward
  • the CMV has been reduced to undetectable levels
  • Jeremy did not feel nauseated today and did not experience any vomiting

Please pray:

  • that God would continue to use this situation for His glory
  • that we would be obedient to God’s plans for this situation
  • that we would continue to cast our worries and fears on the Lord, that we would fix our eyes on Him
  • that we would continue to be reminded of God’s greatness and provision, that we would wait on Him, and that we would not allow fear to creep in
  • that we would rejoice in the moments that God gives us
  • that God would provide full and complete healing and total health for Jeremy
  • that God would protect Jeremy from any scrapes or bumps
  • that Alice and I would not get sick in order to care for our family
  • that Matty would nurse easily and sleep well
  • that God would give us wisdom in teaching Jeremy in the hospital environment
  • that Jeremy would maintain the desire to pray
  • that God would give us the proper balance in caring for Jeremy and Matty
  • that we would adjust well to the new challenges of being in the BMT unit, with all it’s necessary rules and regulations

Please pray for the conditioning chemo regimen:

  • that it would be effective in destroying any lingering cancer cells
  • that pain caused by the mucousitis would subside
  • that Jeremy’s spirits would improve, that he would have the desire to play
  • that Jeremy would regain his confidence in eating when he is able to
  • that Jeremy’s mucousitis would not worsen and would not reach his diaper area
  • that Jeremy’s taste buds would recover quickly
  • that Jeremy would not have any brain, liver, lung, kidney, pancreatic, heart, or any other type of organ damage as a result of the chemo and antibiotics
  • that Jeremy would not encounter any c-diff as a result of the antibiotics
  • that Jeremy’s liver numbers would continue to stabilize and the chemotherapies would not cause additional damage to his liver
  • that Jeremy would not need to be admitted to the PICU at any point during the chemo regimen or bone marrow transplant
  • that Alice, Matthew, and myself would not be harmed by the chemo we might come in contact with when changing Jeremy’s diapers
  • that the chemotherapy Alice and I were exposed to in Jeremy’s vomit would not cause any harm
  • that Jeremy would not be nauseated and would not have any more vomiting episodes
  • that Jeremy’s central line would not be compromised and the bleeding we saw was not a result of anything harmful or dangerous
  • that Jeremy would not encounter any more fevers
  • that the CMV would be eliminated from his system, that the CMV would not infect Jeremy’s lungs or cause any issues with his eyes
  • that Jeremy would not experience additional pain or tingling sensations in his hands
  • that Jeremy would not encounter VOD, that whatever is ailing Jeremy’s liver would heal on it’s own
  • that the swelling in Jeremy’s liver would subside quickly without additional medications
  • that Jeremy would pass the extra fluid and would not retain any more fluid
  • that the bit of fluid in Jeremy’s lungs would pass and that his lungs would clear
  • that Jeremy’s spleen would reduce to normal size
  • that Jeremy’s new marrow would produce platelets soon so that he won’t bleed spontaneously

Please pray for the bone marrow transplant:

  • that the donor cells would engraft, that Jeremy’s body would not reject the transplant
  • that Jeremy would not encounter any graft vs. host disease, acute or chronic, especially anything severe or fatal
  • that God would protect Jeremy’s skin, kidneys, liver, stomach, and intestines from both the donor cells and the medications used to treat and prevent gvhd
  • that the mismatched blood type would not cause any issues for Jeremy

Please pray for our family and neighbors:

  • for our neighbors who are also enduring trials of their own, that they would find their comfort in Christ
  • for our parents – that they would have rest and place their trust in Jesus and receive His comfort
  • that we would be witnesses of God’s love and grace to our neighbors and the medical staff