Tomorrow morning begins a three-week period of more intensive chemotherapy for Noah. We’ll leave the house at 6 a.m. Monday, and the morning will consist of lab work, a spinal tap and an MRI, for which he will be sedated. The rest of the day, Noah will get three different drugs — one of which he hasn’t had before. The day will end at St. Jude about 9 p.m., which means it will be close to 11 before he gets home. It’s going to be a long day.

Patients are normally required to stay in the St. Jude vicinity for their reinduction treatments, but they are allowing us to return home. We are immensely grateful for that. The chemo will likely have a detrimental effect on Noah’s immune system, so we’ll have to be watchful to make sure he doesn’t get a fever. We also are unsure what other side effects from this amount of chemo will be.

Noah has been feeling great in recent days. He hasn’t had to wear a mask in public, and to be around him, you’d never know that he was being treated for leukemia. That certainly makes this whole ordeal more manageable.

So, a few specific requests for Noah for the next three weeks:

1. Please pray that his MRI shows nothing of concern. We’re not expecting anything, but we’re always a bit uneasy that something could be wrong of which we aren’t aware.

2. Because of the procedure Noah is having, we won’t be able to give him his nausea medicine in the morning. He’s been a bit nauseous the past couple of days, so please pray that his stomach will stay settled until his procedure.

3. Pray that he will stay fever-free in the days ahead, especially since we are expecting his ANC to plummet as a result of the extra chemo.

4. Pray that the side effects from the chemo will be minimal.

5. Pray for strength for Noah tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll be exhausted by the time his treatment is over.

6. Pray for wisdom for us as we enter this brief phase with which we are unfamiliar. We’ll be keeping an extra close eye on Noah to see how he responds to the treatment, and we’re uncertain what to expect in this stage.

Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement and concern. We know that the Lord has been our strong tower over these past six months, and we continue to trust his grace for us going forward.

We’ve had interest in ordering more Team Noah t-shirts. So, if that’s you, you can order here. Deadline is June 20th. Thank you! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZgzjHDXI0-L7vlo9UKPl4KNlKFKyHHyRzGPWW8pTbxE/viewform?usp=send_form

The last couple weeks have been pretty good for Noah. His days at St. Jude are hard, but he’s much better the rest of the week. We are thankful that the better days have outweighed the bad ones. We are thankful for days he can run in the sprinkler, or jump in a little pool. It wasn’t long ago where he couldn’t even take a normal bath. So, we are thankful for medical devices like a port, that makes Noah feel a little more normal.

Tomorrow, he gets the same chemo he got a few weeks ago that caused him a lot of nerve pain. Please pray that he will not have that this time. We are giving him some medicine that will hopefully prevent it. Also, he will be back on a steriod this week. Please pray that he has no ill side effects from it, which would be a miracle. We know we serve a mighty God that still performs miracles. And with God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)