Praise God, Jeremy’s been fever free all day. He sometimes gets really close to that 38oC – I think the closest I saw today was 37.5oC. But, thank the Lord, he hasn’t hit that mark. Hopefully, he will remain fever free and we can take off those additional antibiotics.

The rash on his chest and under his dressing has gotten much, much better. We stopped the steroid cream about a day or two ago and it’s been fading. The nurses and doctors believe that it was because the cleaning solution used wasn’t allowed to dry properly before placing the bandage on top of the central line site. We’ll have to be more mindful of each dressing change to be sure it’s given ample time to dry before placing the bandage on.

Jeremy’s neutrophil count went up slightly yesterday and held at the same count today.  Hopefully this means his counts are trending upward.  We’ll have to wait and see how they look over the next few days.

Today was the first day that both Alice and myself left Jeremy in the care of our parents for a few hours (prior to this, we had taken turns so that one of us was always with him). We had an ultrasound appointment for baby to check up on that scar tissue that we were told about at the last ultrasound. I know we shared a bit about that in our previous emails, so thank you all for your prayers. And praise God! Scar tissue is gone and baby is looking great and within a day of the expected due date (two week range is normal)!

It was a bit emotional being at the ultrasound without Jeremy. He would have loved to see his baby brother and hear his heartbeat in person. We were able to show Jeremy the pictures and after noting baby brother’s eyes, nose, mouth, and hand, he kept trying to peel it off thinking they were stickers.

We continue to praise God for Jeremy’s resilience through the first block of treatment.  And we praise God for all of you for reading these updates and for those of you praying for Jeremy.  We continue to be amazed by the fellowship of believers and our union through Christ.

Please continue to 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 God would provide full and complete healing and total health for Jeremy
  • that the regenerating bone marrow would produce only good white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets
  • that the bone marrow aspirate at the end of this first block of treatment would show no leukemia cells (that Jeremy would be in remission)
  • that we would not see any more fevers for the duration of Jeremy’s recovery
  • that God would manage the fevers we’ve encountered
  • that the additional antibiotics for the fevers would not cause any kidney damage
  • that Jeremy’s appetite would continue to improve so we can avoid giving him nutrients through the IV
  • that the rash under the dressing on his central line site would go away and that it is not a result of infection
  • that God would continue to give Jeremy an extra portion of His strength, so Jeremy would continue being his playful, energetic self.
  • for safety for Jeremy, since he is so playful in such a confined place with such low platelet counts