6-29-16

We've made it to hump day of this week! We are up to Day 2 of transplant #1 now. Drew continues to do...okay. His counts have bottomed out as of today, and you can tell. He's started to run fevers, doesn't have a lot of energy, and has been pretty feisty. We are so used to our cooperative, sweet little guy, so to see him get all worked up and fight the nurses is tough to see. He is getting sick a couple times a day, and a couple times at night, as well some diarrhea still. He's complaining about his bum bum hurting, so they suspect he may have some sores in his digestive tract. So far no mouth sores though, which is great! We are doing all we can to keep him comfortable, and today I think he seems better. He's on 3 different anti-nausea meds, 2 different pain meds, 2 antibiotics, and the drug to stimulate his bone marrow to bounce back. He also received a blood transfusion today, so that should help him perk up too. He has a mouthwash he does 4 times a day to stay ahead of the mouth sores also. We keep the nurses busy! Overall even though he still is pretty sad, Josh and I both think we've seen him worse. Which I really probably speaks more to where we've been then where we are today, and also the power of prayer! Keep them coming, we believe God is hearing them!

Each day we get through we know is one more day closer to the big rebound and getting this big hurdle behind us. This week I feel like God is reminding me of the big picture in 2nd Corinthians 4:16-17, "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison". While this situation probably is not the original context for these versus, I think it is applicable nontheless. Drew's outer man is certainly decaying--his body has seen better days! But inside, where it counts, he's getting better and better each day as we keep fighting this cancer. We can't lose heart! Yes, we are struggling, and some days it's hard to stay positive, but we have hope. Hope for better days in this life, and the promise of much better days in eternal glory. We press on. A few versus ahead of this, 8-9, is our battle cry, "we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"!!

~Heidi