Praise God, the aspirate went without any complications today.  Still, it is an emotional ordeal.  We prepped Jeremy like we usually do, telling him that we have to go back to the doctor’s.  When we told him, he said, “No pokes.”  We don’t like to lie to him, so we told him that he wouldn’t feel them.  We also told him that there would be a special surprise waiting for him at home when he’s all finished.  This cheered him up a little.

Jeremy also had to fast for 12 hours before the procedure and was crying for food and drink all morning.  He’s not usually one to complain about hunger either.  He’ll always choose play over food.  This morning, though, after an extended period of play, he walked over to the dining table, put his hands on his belly, and said, “My ready now.”  I asked him what he was ready for and he said, “Breakfast.”  We apologetically told him we can’t eat until later, after the visit to the doctor’s.  He kept tapping on his belly with his hands and crying, asking for something to eat.  It’s hard.  As parents, we try our best to meet the needs of our children.  To hear him cry for food and not be able to give him anything was difficult to say the least.

Before the procedure we were in an exam room finishing up some paperwork and waiting for the doctor to arrive.  This is Alice and Jeremy goofing around with the camera.

When it was time for the procedure, the doctors asked us which parent was going to carry him in.  Alice has done it multiple times and it’s always been very emotional for her, so I volunteered to do it this time.  On the way to the procedure room, Jeremy looked at me and said, “It’s ok.  Special surprise after poking.”  I reassured him that yes, he will get a special surprise after his poking.  Then he reminded me, “It’s ok cry.”  And I told him yes, he can cry as much as he likes.  When we were in the procedure room, he started crying for Alice.  All I could do was rub his back and tell him that it’ll be ok, that Mommy and Daddy will be there when he wakes up.  In the middle of his crying, the anesthesiologist administered the sedative and within seconds Jeremy went limp in my arms.  It was awful to feel him go limp, especially in the midst of all that’s been happening.  I walked out of the procedure room, met up with Alice, and just lost it.  On top of not being able to give him food all day, I felt like I had just abandoned him in one of his moments of greatest need.

When he was finished we were directed to the recovery room.  He was asleep from the sedative and we sat there for about an hour watching him sleep, waiting for it to wear off.

He woke up, not grumpy at all.

We left the clinic, picked up some food and headed home.

Praise God, it didn’t take long for Jeremy to recover from the anesthesia.  After he ate, he was running around the house again.  The aspirate and spinal tap sites are pretty sore, though, and he refused to lie down to get his diaper changed.  Instead, we used pull-ups so he could just stand up for it.  He’s pretty much potty trained, so we could technically go without diapers, but the challenge there is that he’ll wait until the very last second before he has to go to the bathroom and we don’t always make it to the potty.  He’ll let us know by saying, “My peeing right now!”

We wrapped up our day with a quiet dinner (provided by Alice’s mom) and the special surprise that he got after enduring more “pokes.”  The special surprise was a Lego Buzz Lightyear spaceship.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Praise God:

• that God continues to sustain and strengthen Jeremy through all of this
• that the aspirate and spinal tap went without any complications
• that Jeremy recovered quickly from the anesthesia

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 Jeremy’s bone marrow aspirate today will show < 5% blasts (leukemia cells) in his bone marrow and negative MRD (minimum residual disease)
• that the spinal tap results would show no signs of leukemia in his cerebral spinal fluid
• 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 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 from the lasting effects of the new medication (mitoxantrone)
• that God would protect Jeremy from any bacterial, yeast, or fungal infections while he is home
• that Jeremy would not be irritated or itchy from the dressing change today
• 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 from the medications he received from this last block of treatment
• 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