Ethan is nearing the end of his chemo admission, and here's a first...he hasn't thrown up once!  The nausea has been under control despite receiving 5 days of very strong chemo.  

Praise God for that!

His discharge will be tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25th, instead of today so that's disappointing.  However, he's had his friends coming in and so he doesn't feel forgotten!

Please pray that he can have the next two weeks off without mouth ulcers or fever.  His next admission should be August 8th.

 

Thanks to everyone for the prayers.  Ethan was admitted last week (July 11th) for chemo and did well.  He was discharged Sunday but, unfortunately, a mouth ulcer started to appear on Monday. . . just the beginning stage, so not painful.  However, he was to be admitted again on the 18th, but vomiting with a mouth ulcer just isn't a pretty thought.  So, by Wednesday it was still there, and we opted to delay his admission.  

Frustrating on the one hand, but at least he had a few days to spend with his good friend who just got back from being away for 6 weeks!  Ethan is getting pretty good at looking at situations from different perspectives so he can find the positives . . . such an important area of growth!!!

Today his mouth looks almost better, so he will be admitted tomorrow, July 20th, for the "heavy-duty" chemo, as I call it.  Please pray the the 5 days of chemo won't be as exhausting as it was the last time . . . he really felt awful when he had the last 5-day course. 

Also pray that he could be discharged Tuesday evening instead of Wednesday afternoon .  . . depends on how quickly our admission process goes tomorrow and how soon the first dose of chemo is ready . . . even one less night is such a mood boost for him!  

Thank you for the cards and notes . . . much appreciated!!!  As always, we pray that God would be glorified and Ethan's body would be healed at the end of all this.  :)

Love,

Karen

Ethan is doing a lot better today, but had a rough week b/c of a huge mouth ulcer.  He's pretty tired of smoothies, so moved on to Wendy's Frosties (that looks funny plural . . . but he ate them in plural!!)  Today was the first he could chew since last Friday, so the biggest prayer is that he can make up for lost time and put on a pound or two before he is admitted next Wednesday (July 11).  Hopefully, the sores will be gone by tomorrow; they've improved each day as his white count rises.  He misses pizza!!! 

Amazingly, except when the pain was at its worst, he has remained in good spirits.  His friends have been great at hanging out with him and their distraction is really helpful.   He turned 17 on Saturday, but we had fortunately celebrated the previous Thursday while Jordan was still home (she left for Haiti the day before his birthday).  Praise God that we celebrated early, because he didn't have any mouth sores then so Jordan took him to breakfast and spent most of the day w/ him and then we all went out to dinner.  Little did we know that that would be the last he could chew for a week!!  I truly thank God for the timing of all that.  :)

As always, continue to pray for total healing of Ethan by the end of all this.  He is drawing closer to God and making such mature decisions . . . we thank you for your ongoing prayers about all aspects of his life.  Our community of friends and family is truly a daily blessing to us.