early morning admission

Ethan was admitted early this morning to the hospital for a fever and very low blood counts. He has been fighting what seems like one thing after another for the last 3-4 weeks (sinus infection, pink eye, ear infection, strep) and yesterday evening he started with a low grade temp that didn't cross the fever-threshold until 2:30am, which meant a middle of the night ER-run for me and Ethan.

He tested positive for strep (no surprise; Eloise tested positive for strep last weekend and Ethan started a sore throat earlier this week and started antibiotics for what we assumed was strep on Wednesday). His team also suspects that he probably has some kind of virus going on at the same time, and that everything is working together to suppress his blood counts. In the words of his oncologist today, "the bone marrow is on a fine edge" during maintenance because his on-going daily and monthly chemo is working hard to keep it suppressed to keep the cancer away. It doesn't take much to have his counts impacted and decrease the way that they have today.

So, here we are again.

This time of year has me fairly deep into reflection mode, where everything we do feels like a remnant of that first January when we started to learn this life that has now become so routine. I went home today for an hour or so to shower and grab a few things and all I kept thinking about were the drives I would take home during the first few weeks after Ethan was diagnosed three years ago. It was so surreal then, so sudden. Abrupt. Like a page torn out of a book and roughly pasted into another, so was our life so severely shifted into a new story.

And today, the same streets, the same drive, the same routine we've (sort of) perfected as we manage life at the hospital and at home. It's still surreal sometimes, even now, three years later.

Please pray for Ethan. He's on IV antibiotics to cover and protect him from infection while we wait for his counts to increase. My guess is that we will be admitted until at least Monday, but his labs will need to show good progress in increasing each day in order to be discharged. Pray for his body to be healed from the strep and any other bug that he's in got in his system right now.

Please pray for Eloise. Our girl is such a delight and these hospital stays are just tough. I want my beautiful girl to know how loved she is and the juggling that comes along with being admitted is hard. And, because of the special bond that they share, Ethan and Eloise miss each other when they're not together. We all miss each other! Pray for peace amidst the juggling of each day while we are here.

And, please pray for Pete and I. For all of the usual suspects - strength, stamina, patience, discernment, energy, rest. All the things.

As always, we are so thankful for your prayers.