Praise God for more uneventful days.  The pentamidine and IVIG went without issue yesterday in clinic.  It was a long visit, approximately 5 hours, but Jeremy was perfectly fine sitting still on that tiny bed.

Praise God, we learned yesterday that Jeremy continues to be negative for CMV! The ganciclovir will continue for another 4 weeks, which means that the overnight fluids will continue.  It also means that he will continue those GCSF injections twice a week.  Speaking of, today was an injection day and he was less cooperative with this one than in the past.  After it was over, we wondered if it was because the homecare nurse had done it.  We asked if he wanted the nurse or us to give these injections and he answered, “Mommy, Daddy do it.”  So I guess we’ll be continuing with those ourselves.  I suppose if I had to choose between a stranger and a loved one, I would choose the loved one, too.

We drew labs again today and got the results later in the afternoon.  Praise God, Jeremy’s counts continue to be pretty stable.  His ANC appears to be holding again, so the bmt outpatient nurse suggested holding off on the GCSF again on Monday until after labs are drawn to see if Jeremy will need the injection or not.  Praise God, the lab work also showed that his kidneys and liver numbers are within normal range.

Today was also day +50, halfway to the 100 day post transplant milestone.  I think that 100 days post transplant takes the patient out of the riskiest part of a bone marrow transplant.  I’ll need to find out more about this from our nurse practitioner.

To celebrate day +50, Alice made Jeremy a coconut pudding intended for dessert after dinner.  But, he couldn’t wait and had it after breakfast, after a very short afternoon nap, and then again after dinner.  He loved every bite.  We also made Jeremy something he’s been asking for since admission to the bmt unit: pho.  We had to make it ourselves because we’re not allowed to order take out food from non-chain restaurants.  Believe it or not, the medical staff prefers that we order from McDonald’s instead our neighborhood restaurants because McDonald’s would be more tightly regulated in regards to food safety.  The pho we made was the quick and cheat-y version, but Jeremy enjoyed it and nearly finished a good sized bowl.  He had a big smile on his face when he took that first spoonful.  It was great to see.  Pictures soon.

During our clinic visit yesterday, we were told that it’s surprising (in a good way) that Jeremy’s first engraftment studies from that peripheral blood draw showed 100% donor.  Apparently, it’s not common.  We were told not to be alarmed if the aspirate results don’t show 100%, but just seeing how well Jeremy is doing and then hearing confirmation from the medical staff is a wonderful reminder of God’s perfect and capable hands carrying Jeremy through all of this.  What can we do but offer shouts of praise to our heavenly Father?

“Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet;
praise him with the harp and the lyre,
praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and the pipe,
praise him with the clash of the cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150)

Praise God:

• for Him, His hand that carries us in both times of blessing and times of difficulty
• Jeremy is well and enjoying his time at home
• the pentamidine and IVIG went without issue and Jeremy is not experiencing any side effects
• Jeremy’s counts continue to be stable and trending upward
• we are all in good general 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 continue 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
• for wisdom in regards to the sleep challenges
• 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