A Hiatus Interrupted

MOVING

     On the tail end of Ethen's last treatment we moved to a new house. Timing wasn't ideal, but c'est la vie, as the French say. We were supposed to be released on Friday, but due to teetering electrolyte counts and Ethen's electrolyte problems during the first round of treatment, the medical team held Ethen that night. I went home to get some last-minute details in order, but Christie (the brains behind the operation) stayed with Ethen in the hospital. I am glad to say that the move went on as scheduled the next day without a hitch. It was a huge success thanks to lots of help from family, Hometown Heroes, and folks from church! We are now mostly settled in our new abode. 

     The new locale slices the drive time to Levine's in half, which is very nice given our weekly, sometimes biweekly (yes, that's twice a week) drive to the clinic, or hospital. The downside is that we're now a greater distance from immediate help from my mom, and the occasional spontaneous get-together with my side of the family. We're still quite close to both sides of the family though, which is a nice thing to have in these times!

UPDATE ON ETHEN

     We've seen a lot of this lately (sign language for "more")...  Ethen uses it for everything... food, music, mommy, etc.! We are thankful that he has used it especially frequently this week to ask for more food. Based on the looks of his cheeks (not this particular picture), I'd say he's gained a pound or two over the past couple weeks. We'll know more on Monday when we visit the clinic. That same day we are slotted to return to the hospital to commence round four of chemotherapy.
     This round of chemo will be pretty intense—not that the others weren't. This round though will entail giving Ethen two times as much cyclophosphamide (cytoxan) as he received in each of the first two rounds, but this time he'll get that dose over two days as opposed to the five days of previous treatments. He'll also receive two other drugs, which will be administered over three days.
     Please pray that Ethen continues to gain strength and weight over the next couple days. We've discussed intubating Ethen with an N-G tube (nasogastric tube, which goes through the nose into the belly). This would obviously not be ideal, but with the intensity of the coming treatments Ethen needs as many calories and nutrients as possible, which the N-G is designed to do by bypassing Ethen's gag reflex and basically his volition altogether (however, his volition to pull it out would be another matter). We will likely go this route, but we are asking for prayer that Ethen will continue to eat and get the necessary nutrients to maintain weight and other bodily functions so that we don't need the N-G tube. Pray for us this week to have energy and patience.