Archive for Leukemia
One of the verses I’m clinging to these days:
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8)
We’re praying that like the Noah of old, our Noah would also find favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Today was somewhat of a mixed bag for Noah. He had a good night last night, an OK morning and a rough afternoon. His head, stomach and legs all hurt, and it was clear that he was pretty miserable. But after a late afternoon napped, Noah rallied considerably. He played with Daniel and Emmalee for a while and was laughing and cheerful when I left the hospital to come back home for the night. A little later, he felt well enough to walk down the hall to do some crafts with volunteers who came to work with the kids (that’s what he’s doing in the picture).
He also ate well tonight for the first time in a long, long time. We’re hoping he keeps it down, especially since he has an MRI scheduled for noon tomorrow and can’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight tonight.
We’re expecting to be discharged in the next day or so as long as the MRI comes back OK.
Some specific prayer requests:
1. Pray that Noah is able to keep his food down tonight, and that he won’t get overly hungry before his MRI tomorrow.
2. Pray that his MRI shows that the fluid sac previously around his spine has healed, and that Noah will be well enough to be discharged soon. Tonight will be the 11th night for him to be in the hospital, and I think getting out should lift his spirits.
3. You can start praying now for the bone marrow test that Noah will have on day 15 of his treatment. This is a huge deal. Huge. We need the MRD (minimal residual disease) from this test to come back negative. This is the first indicator of how well Noah is responding to the chemo. Less than 1 percent is desirable, but we’re praying for less than .01 percent. Anything at less than 1 percent will keep Noah in the low-risk group, and that obviously would make us feel a lot better.
Many, many thanks for your continued prayers.
Several people have asked where they can send Noah some mail. Here’s the address you can use:
Noah Ellsworth
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105-3678
First, a bit of background. I’ve been posting updates on Facebook but am planning to start writing here instead. Our 5-year-old son Noah was admitted to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on Jan. 10. On Jan. 13, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. You can read a little more about all of that here.
Yesterday Noah got his second chemo treatment. He threw up a few times yesterday morning and then again once last night. His stomach is still a bit queasy this morning, but he seems to be pretty cheerful today. We are continuing to pray that the chemo would quickly and successfully attack the cancer in his body and that the side effects would be minimal.
We don’t know when we’ll be discharged at this point, and honestly, I don’t think we’re in a great rush for that. Noah is getting excellent care here at St. Jude, and we continue to be thankful for all of his doctors and nurses.
We decided yesterday that when we are discharged, our family will spend the next few weeks living at a home provided by Habitat for Hope. Though St. Jude has graciously offered for us to stay at the Ronald McDonald House nearby, they only allow four people to stay in a room. With five of us, plus Sarah’s mother who will stay with us much of the time, that wasn’t a viable option for us.
Enter Habitat for Hope, a ministry to cancer patients and their families. They have a house near Millington (only about 20 minutes from St. Jude), located on a gorgeous setting of about 50 acres. We’ll be staying in a basement apartment of the house. The caretakers of the home are parents of a child with ALL, so they understand what we’re going through. Their children are similar in age to ours. Our children are ecstatic about staying at a place with horses and with all the other amenities that come with 50 acres of land on which to play.
This was indeed an answer to prayer for us. A huge “thank you” to all who referred us to Habitat for Hope, to the organization for providing us with this housing opportunity, and to several other places nearby that also offered us housing. We are incredibly grateful for the ways we’ve been loved by so many people during this time.