Praise God for an uneventful day.  Jeremy continues to eat well and has been fever free.

We were told early this morning that the nurse who drew labs said his red lumen was feeling a bit sluggish and assumed it was clotted, so our nurse today was going to TPA the line.  Not exactly sure what TPA stands for, but in Jeremy’s case, it’s basically a medication that is used to break clots.  We didn’t really want to add more medication to him unless it was absolutely necessary.  We’ve learned that his line can be sluggish for one of two reasons: 1) there really is a clot or 2) his head position.  Because the line passes his neck, his head can be at the right angle to make the line sluggish.  We discussed with the nurse and decided to hold off until the next line access to be sure that it’s actually clotted.

The next line access happened to be today around dinner time.  Jeremy’s platelets were low enough to warrant transfusion.  They accessed the “sluggish” line and it flushed just fine, so TPA was unnecessary.  Jeremy was really helpful with the nurse, too.  He fished out his red lumen from under his shirt and held it out for her, ready for the transfusion.  What a champ.

Other than that, it was a quiet day.  Well, mostly quiet.  We did hear the planes and jets flying in the distance for fleet week.  Jeremy got excited about it, mostly because Alice was really excited about it.  He sat at the window sill while Alice sat on the chair next to him.  They managed to see the Blue Angels and spot a few other jets.  In between jet-sightings, Jeremy was still chipping away at lunch and wanted to be kept busy.  Alice grabbed a book to read to him and commented, “I’m muti-tasking: making sure he doesn’t fall, reading him a story, giving him his Pediasure…and I’m having a contraction!”  Praise God for Alice – super-wife and super-mom.

Not too much else to document today.  Jeremy continues to develop mentally and physically.  He’s constructing longer sentences, asking questions, making connections between action and reaction, and expressing himself more.  Today, he finished a twenty-five piece puzzle all on his own.  I’d post the video, but it’s about 15 minutes long.  When he finished he wanted to take a photo of his accomplishment.  Tonight, our night nurse came in with some medications and Jeremy, noticing the syringes she had in her possession, asked, “Fluconazole? Septra? Zofran?”  They are anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-nausea medications, respectively.  He’s absorbed a lot of information here in the hospital – a lot of things we never intended for him to learn.  But, praise God for how He’s made Jeremy so adaptable and flexible.

Praise God:

• for Him, His provision
• for how He’s prepared Jeremy for this situation
• Jeremy continues to have a great appetite
• Jeremy continues to be fever free
• today’s platelet transfusion went smoothly with no reactions
• baby brother is kicking about and doing well
• Alice and I continue to be 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 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 the cord collection would be sterile and free of contaminants
• 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, fungal, or viral infections
• that Jeremy would not encounter any infections so that he can remain unhooked from the IV pole for the duration of this round
• 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 Jeremy would continue to eat 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