Praise God, Jeremy’s echocardiogram results came back and we’re told everything is ok with his beautiful little heart for this round.  They do labs on his kidney and liver function as well and they are in normal range for a patient on chemo.

Jeremy’s counts continue to go up, but slowly.  Hopefully we will be able to go home soon.  The other day, we asked Jeremy, “Hey Jeremy, guess what tomorrow is?” We were expecting him to be excited about bingo day.  With a hopeful look on his face, he said, “Home?” That just broke our hearts.  Home’s been on Jeremy’s mind for a while now.

The aspirate has been put on the calendar, too.  It is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, 9/18.

The search for a match continues.  I had a chat with our search coordinator and was told that they search once a week everywhere – China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore.  A 10/10 still hasn’t been found yet.  As we get closer to the ideal transplant date we will have to evaluate with the doctors what to do if a match isn’t found.

In all honesty, we have no idea what is in store for our son and we daily confess our fears over it.  I was encouraged by our pastor today and reminded that our God is a just God, full of love and mercy.  Our trust remains in Him who offers salvation through Jesus Christ.

As for Jeremy, he continues to bring us joy.  Not a day goes by where he doesn’t put a smile on our faces.  Last night, when Alice was trying to get him to sleep, there was a long period of silence.  Jeremy was just laying there, eyes open, staring off to the side.  Wondering why he was so quiet, Alice whispered, “Jeremy?” Jeremy quickly faced Alice and said, “Oh! Hi!” as if he had forgotten that Alice was lying next to him.  Alice asked him, “What were you thinking about?” Jeremy replied, very matter-of-fact, “Robots.  Playing them.”

He’s been randomly giving us hugs, too.  Sometimes he’ll be eating or playing or watching a movie and he’ll just stop what he’s doing, stretch out his arms, put on the sweetest little face and say, “Hug.”  In response, we drop what we’re doing and give him a hug right away.  We never turn down an opportunity to hug him.

He’s grabbed the camera a few times, too.  Here’s one of his latest pictures.  Before taking this photo, he said, “Say cheese, my foot!”

His movie of choice lately has been Monsters, Inc.  Here he is reenacting the beginning of the movie where a monster slowly rises over a bed.

He’s also been giving us thumbs up every now and again.

Love our kid, can’t say it enough.

Praise God:

• for Him, our refuge and strength
• that He has a plan, a hope, and a future for Jeremy
• Jeremy’s counts continue to trend upward
• Jeremy continues to eat well
• Jeremy continues to be fever free
• the echocardiogram for this round came back with good results regarding Jeremy’s heart
• Word continues to spread about bone marrow registration and will offer help for   other patients, as well as Jeremy
• that baby brother continues to grow and kick about
• that Alice and I remain in good health

Please continue to pray (new/updated items in bold):

• 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 sustain Jeremy through this block of treatment
• that Jeremy’s bone marrow aspirate on Tuesday, 9/18 would show < 5% blasts (leukemia cells) in his bone marrow and negative MRD (minimum residual disease) and that the procedure would go smoothly
• that God would provide with the whole process of finding a bone marrow match, the risks of transplant, and the anxiety of it achieving long-term remission for Jeremy
• that word would continue to get out about the need for a perfect bone marrow match and that one would be found for Jeremy
• that Jeremy’s little brother would be a match and that there would be a sufficient volume of cells in the cord blood to qualify for a good transplant
• that everyone who needs to be involved in the cord blood collection would be diligent and the collection and processing would go smoothly
• that God would give Jeremy an extra portion of His strength for this block of treatment
• that we would not encounter any side effects that would affect his appetite – nausea, vomiting, mouth sores and that Jeremy would have a good appetite throughout the entire block of treatment
• that Jeremy would not experience any more stomach pains
• that Jeremy would not encounter any life threatening side effects
• 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
• that God would protect Jeremy’s heart with the new medication (mitoxantrone) and that the recent echocardiogram would come back with good results
• that Jeremy would not encounter any more fevers due to bacterial, fungal, or yeast infections, especially in his neutropenic state
• that there wouldn’t be any more line infections and that we wouldn’t need to replace it at any point during Jeremy’s treatments
• that God would protect Jeremy’s kidneys and liver as they process the antibiotics coursing through his system
• that fevers Jeremy does encounter would subside quickly
• that God would relieve Jeremy of the traumatic stress of the skin biopsy procedure
• that God would continue protect Jeremy’s central line and there would be no additional infections as a result of it
• that Jeremy would sleep better at night
• that Alice and I would not get sick in order to care for Jeremy
• that God would protect Alice and baby brother from all the emotional stress
• that baby brother would be full term before deciding that he wants out
• for our neighbors who are also enduring trials of their own
• for our parents – that they would have rest and place their trust in Jesus
• that God would give us wisdom in teaching Jeremy in the hospital environment
• that we would be witnesses of God’s love and grace to our neighbors and the medical staff