Praise God the bone marrow aspirate procedure yesterday went without any complications or issues.  Jeremy bounced right back from the anesthesia and was eating and drinking shortly after he woke up.  When we got home, his appetite returned and he asked for scrambled eggs.  He finished one, then asked for another.  He loves breakfast!

It will be about a week or two before we see results from the aspirate.

Praise God today was a quiet day.  Jeremy is fever free, eating, and playful.  His vocabulary continues to grow and he surprises us often with how quickly he picks up new words and knows how to use them.  Today, his new word was “actually.”  I can’t remember the exact context of our conversation, but he said something along the lines of “Actually, it’s like this: Rawrrrrr!” He continues to be a great big brother, too.  Jeremy and Matty were hanging out this morning, just looking at each other, Jeremy making every small observation about Matty.  “Hey, his hand is like this.” or “Hey, his tongue doing like that.”  He’s given Matty more than a few kisses since we’ve been home and it’s been great to see Jeremy show affection toward his little brother.

Matty is growing right in front of us.  Every day it looks like he’s gotten longer and wider.  His thighs are really starting to get those baby rolls.  He can be very talkative, too.  He can be a bit fussy with the nursing and sleeping, but overall he is doing well.

We got the results of the CMV lab that is taken routinely on Mondays.  Praise God, it’s negative! This means that we can reduce the ganciclovir from twice a day to once a day.  Hopefully, this will also mean that Jeremy will not need the frequent GCSF shots since his new marrow will not be as suppressed with the reduced ganciclovir dosage.

I forgot to mention in previous updates, that additional blood was drawn for engraftment studies a day or two before we were discharged.  We were so occupied with discharge that I didn’t write down when they were taken.  Well, the results of that peripheral blood engraftment study came back today.  Praise God, they showed 100% donor! 100%! That’s great news! It’s still preliminary until the results of the bone marrow aspirate confirm this, but we didn’t hold back the tearful rejoicing.  Alice and I fell to our knees and praised God for His wonderful deeds.  Jeremy took notice of our tears of joy and asked if we were sad.  We told him no and that we’re crying because we’re happy and that we have to pray to say thank you to God.  He prayed, too.  “Dear God, thank you for today, thank you for Mommy and Daddy.  In Jesus name, Amen.”

While each day can bring a new challenge, we can’t stress enough how each day is filled with more and more of God’s goodness and mercy than anything else.  Praise God for His Holy Spirit, who each day reminds us of God’s presence in all things.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his.
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Praise God:

• we are His!
• for His love, goodness, and faithfulness
• the peripheral blood engraftment studies showed 100%
• the CMV is negative and we can go down on the ganciclovir dosing
• Jeremy continues to be fever free
• Jeremy’s appetite improves each day
• Matty is growing and developing
• Alice and I remain in general good health

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 the bone marrow transplant would be Jeremy’s final cure
• that Jeremy would not develop any late effects from the chemotherapy and drugs used to treat him, especially any second cancers
• 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 God would protect Jeremy from any scrapes or bumps as his new marrow is not producing enough platelets yet to avoid transfusions
• that Jeremy would not experience any spontaneous bleeding from his nose, central line, or anywhere else on his body
• that the CMV would not reactivate
• that Jeremy would not encounter infections for fevers while he is home
• that Jeremy’s counts would start trending up more, especially his ANC, so that he will not need any more GCSF injections
• for Jeremy’s mental and emotional healing from the traumas he’s endured for the last 6 months and whatever he will have to face in the future
• that Alice and I would not get sick in order to care for our family
• that Matty would nurse easily and sleep well
• that Jeremy would maintain the desire to pray
• that God would give us the proper balance in caring for Jeremy and Matty

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 Jeremy would experience the maximum graft vs. leukemia effect, that cells produced by the new marrow would attack any cancerous cells
• 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 in the bmt and oncology unit who are also enduring trials of their own, that they would find their comfort in Christ
• for our parents and families – 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