Jeremy is a champ with the eyedrops.  He’ll cry through the whole thing, but knows that it has to happen, so he tries to be as cooperative as he possibly can.  He lays still, crying, the drops pool on his closed eyes, he opens them to let the drops in, and he’s done.  Jeremy knows he did a good job, too, because he’ll say, “I did a very good job!”

The chemo seems to be affecting him now.  He threw up once today, twice yesterday and once the day before.  But, praise God, Jeremy rebounds from it fairly quickly and a few minutes later is eating and drinking again – much smaller portions, of course.  The last few nights of poor sleep have caught up with him, too.  He’s a bit grumpier than usual today.  With the chemo making him feel crummy and the eyedrops causing him emotional stress and lack of sleep, it’s hard to blame him.  He had a bad dream during his nap yesterday, too, cutting it short by an hour.

Still with all that’s happening, Jeremy is in decent spirits.  He’s hopping around on the bed (which we try to discourage if one of us isn’t on there with him), doing his puzzles, building his legos, playing monster.  A four year old boy next door was given a pair of monster feet that he wasn’t interested in, so his parents asked the nurses if anyone else on the floor would want them.  Our nurse snatched them up, thinking that Jeremy would like them.  She was right.

Here’s a video of the monster feet in action.

We gave the boy next door a small Lego police buggy as a thank you.

Today was Jeremy’s last day of chemo.  His counts haven’t started dropping yet, but probably will in the next day or so.  The last day of chemo also means that in 72 hours, Alice and Jeremy will be able to snuggle up next to each other to sleep again.  They’ve really missed each other.  Alice happened to be up last night and snapped this picture of me and him.  I didn’t lie when I said he has his back turned to me.

We’re getting closer and closer to the birth of baby brother.  Alice isn’t experiencing labor contractions, but she is feeling them more frequently now.  Please continue to pray for a smooth delivery and period of adjustment.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.  We are blessed that so many cover Jeremy in prayer.  Praise God for how He unites us all in the name of Jesus Christ.

Praise God:

  • for Him, His daily reminders of how He continues to sustain and strengthen Jeremy
  • Jeremy continues to eat
  • Jeremy is fever free
  • Jeremy’s stomach pain has subsided
  • for the uneventfulness of the last few days

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 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 pain
  • that Jeremy will not encounter any life threatening side effects during this round of chemo
  • 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 continue to protect Jeremy’s heart from the lasting effects of the medication (mitoxantrone) from the last round
  • that God would protect Jeremy from any bacterial, yeast, or fungal infections
  • 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 will receive during this block of treatment
  • that God would continue to protect Jeremy’s central line and there would be no additional infections as a result of it
  • that Jeremy would sleep well during this round of treatment
  • that Alice and I would not get sick in order to care for our family
  • that God would protect Alice and baby brother from all the emotional stress
  • for adjustment for all of us when we welcome baby brother into the family
  • that baby brother’s birth would be free of complications and that it would be quick and easy
  • that Alice would recover quickly from baby brother’s birth
  • that baby brother would nurse easily and sleep well
  • 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