Ethan  is one week out of his last chemo admission and, drum roll please, no mouth ulcers! 

The docs have increased the frequency of one of his "rescue"  meds every time and this seems to have worked.  How nice to have him able to eat normally and not be taking painkillers.  Other than fatigue, he is doing quite well.  

Pray that the upcoming trip for him and Tegan  would go smoothly.  They fly out September 28th to Green Bay  and go to the Saints-Packers game the following day!  

Pray for safety and a relaxing weekend for both of them.  

Thanks to all of you for your faithfulness.

We are having a much nicer Saturday than last week!  

All of us came to Delaware to celebrate Jordan's 20th birthday!  Having a great day! 

 Ethan had another transfusion on Wednesday and is finally feeling less sluggish today and the mouth ulcers went away yesterday.  

Super good news came this week with the realization that he has only four more chemo admissions and then he is done!!!!!  

Pray for his admission September 12.  That he would clear the methotrexate quickly and be discharged early!!  

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

Well, this is Saturday Sept. 1 and Ethan is at the hospital getting a blood transfusion.  Not a great Saturday for him, but he'll feel better in the end.  Tegan and Luke are his faithful companions today!  You know he was feeling the effects of a low hemoglobin when he agreed to let Luke push him to his room in a wheelchair because he was too tired to walk!  :)

We heard positive results yesterday from the CT scan.  Although there was a tiny area of some type of inflammation, they don't think that is anything to worry about.  Apparently, it's the type of spot that commonly shows up on even healthy peoples' CT scans if they have any type of cold or mucositis (Ethan currently has mucositis), and looks quite different that the way cancer presents when it spreads to the lungs.  That's good news . . . but it would have been a lot easier for me to just have the whole scan be clear.  My medical friends can send me affirming texts and emails, please, so I don't worry about this.  :)  Please pray that this is indeed nothing to be concerned about.  

Ethan's next admission will be Sept. 12. PLease pray that he won't need another transfusion before that (it takes a whole day of his "at home" life!) and that the mouth ulcers he has would heal quickly.  They are painful today.  Thank you all for your support and prayers!!!

Love,

Karen

Thanks for all the prayers!  Ethan was discharged yesterday and was able to join us in taking Jordan back to college! 

Jordan settled in after a much needed dinner at Cheeburger and Yogoberries!  I would like a frozen yogurt place in Etown, please! J

Ethan is tired but doing well.  Please pray that mouth sores will not appear next week.  He also has a follow up CT scan and MRI next week which will tell us if the cancer has spread.  Up to now there has been no spreading that we can see, and we pray that these scans show the same.  Praise God for our faithful friends and family.  You are a blessing to us!  Love to all,

Karen

Our fastest admission ever yesterday! :) 

Everything went smoothly.  Ethan will not need to get another dose of the chemo that can cause hearing loss.  

The changes in hearing that he has had are at such a high frequency that there is no functional problem, but if he received any more of one specific drug, it could get worse.  

His doctor said that it was an easy decision to just sub in a different chemo drug.  

Too much detail, I know, but suffice it to say that this isn't a setback or major concern.  

Pray that Ethan will be discharged in time Sunday so we can all go with Jordan to take her back to college in the afternoon! 

Thanks for praying!

Update Wednesday, August 22

Well, Ethan has had some extra days at home because his admission was bumped a week. His audiogram results necessitated a possible change in chemo and his attending physician was out of town. So instead of last Friday, we will be heading to Hershey today. .. Not sure for what until we get there! We're thankful that Ethan at least got to go to his first day of classes today. He is taking two at a local Christian school and one at home. 

Huge praise that Ethan completed trig this week! One more nutrition lesson and we can update his transcripts and he is ready for college applications! Phew! Hard to believe!  

I'll post an update with news from today later. Thanks for your ongoing prayers that the mouth ulcers be kept at bay!! Pray for continued healing and no more delays. Thanks to you all!

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.