Today's Mood: Thankful

Can I just start by saying how proud I am of our little cutie! You'd think he would be absolutely miserable and cranky (and he'd have every right to be!) with all of the junk that is filtering through his tiny body.... but our little trooper is so strong. He is such a happy baby. Yes, he fusses and can belt out a cry and a scream like you wouldn't believe, BUT you change his diaper or give him a bottle and he calms right down (most of the time).... and that's just a typical baby! He's so wonderful and his attitude is so precious. I understand that he doesn't know what's going on - and I'm so very thankful for that - but regardless, his body IS full of poison medication and cancer and you'd think he'd be so irritable all the time. But he isn't. He's absolutely precious and we cherish every minute with him.

So far, no side effects have surfaced. His bottom is pretty raw, and the fissure tears have been aggravated once again, but he doesn't seem to be in pain. The prayer request for the immediate future is that his central line (the port in his chest) stops bleeding. The port is inserted directly into his chest and there are 2 lines (tubes) that come out. It's through those lines that he gets the chemo, blood transfusions, and how he will get the bone marrow transplant. For lack of better description, that tubing is his "life line" for everything right now. The continued prayer request is that the line doesn't become infected. He's not at risk of that right now, but it does continue to ooze blood and so that means there is an opening at the insertion site and though it is kept covered with bandages, infection can creep in at any point.... and an infected line would make things EXTREMELY complicated! The stitches that hold the line in the chest have developed a scab from all the blood which makes is hard to clean. Please be in prayer that we can get a grip on the situation the next few days that we are here and that the tubes remain infection-free. We are so thankful no other problems have come up yet, and we pray that he continues to remain free of side effects.

Ethan's spleen is still a concern. It hasn't gone down in size, and we really need it to start shrinking. I truly want to avoid Ethan having to have his spleen removed, so please be in prayer that over the next few days we start to see a consistent decrease in size. His liver is slightly enlarged as well, so if they could both shrink up, that would be a huge blessing (and a shock to the doctors).

I will find out more about the progress being made with the bone marrow search on Friday. Out of the 12 preliminary matches, they will search the first 5 for a perfect match. If a perfect match isn't found they will continue until all 12 have been reviewed. They'd then take the closest match they found. I'd love for them to find a perfect match within their first search and then we could move forward with the transplant right away! Since I get updated on Fridays, pray that THIS Friday holds more good news!

Thank you for all of your continued prayers for our little boy! Aside from being extra tired from the chemo today, he's doing well.


1 Corinthians 2:5 - That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.