low counts

Just a quick note to ask for some prayer for Ethan. The last few weeks Ethan has been experiencing some increased symptoms that have had us in touch with his team at Children's. He's had some belly pain and his liver enzymes were elevated a few weeks ago, and have thankfully come down over the last week or so. Over the last week or 2 he's also been fighting a croup virus that it seems every kid's got around here, and we had to take a trip to the ER on Friday morning because he spiked a low grade fever.

We've kept things low key over the weekend to help his body kick this bug and got his scheduled pre-chemo labs this morning (Monday), which showed that his ANC is pretty low and he's neutropenic (at greater risk for infection because his body doesn't have a lot of white blood cells to fight viruses). His hemoglobin is also low.  This can occur when a virus happens, as his body and bone marrow don't function "normally" because of the chemotherapy he gets every day.

So, for now we get to hold his oral doses of chemo that he takes each day until our clinic visit on Wednesday. We will get repeat labs done then to check his counts, but for now the plan is that he will still get his scheduled dose of IV chemo and potentially still go ahead with his sedation for intrathecal chemo as well. We will wait and see what Wednesday brings.

We would love for you to pray for Ethan, as you've done so faithfully. Here's a few specific requests:

• Pray for Ethan's counts to recover and improve, and for his bone marrow to continue making healthy cells.
• Pray for rest and healing from this virus and for protection from any fevers or other illnesses.
• Pray for protection for Pete and (especially) me from fear, anxiety and uncertainty.

What I love about Ethan, you guys, is just his continued joy. Even this weekend, after a trip to the ER and being tired because of his low counts, he's still got his joy and that exuberant spirit. Right now, even as I type this, he's singing in his room. Today, when we got to school, he gave a huge hug to his principal. He is such a treasure and delight. 

And, he's really been singing a lot. In Journey Kids (our church's kids program), the kids have been learning a new song, "What wondrous love is this," during their worship time, and Ethan wants us to play it ALL.THE.TIME. And so, we have. Because it's good to sing you guys. In the joy and the uncertainty, Ethan is showing me how to run toward God, to move toward worship. And it's good. 

Here's a link to our church's version of What Wondrous Love is This, that we've been listening to on repeat. It's pretty awesome guys. I encourage you to play it, play it loud, and sing and dance with us.