Wednesday Update

By the time Anya got to the ER Friday night she no longer had a fever. We definitely believe this was an answer to prayers. Her blood cultures have come back negative from that night so we are rejoicing that she did not have an infection. Meanwhile Anya had a routine check-in at the hospital Tuesday morning and is headed home this morning (Wednesday). The overnight stay was to give Anya chemo that she recieves via IV through the port in her chest. This particular chemo can only remain in the body for a short time or it will cause liver/kidney damage so she has to be monitored in the hospital and submit all of her urine for tests to demonstrate that she is passing the chemo. Anya is holding up EXTREMELY WELL. I spent the day with her in the hospital before Anna relieved me around 8pm and Anya was cheerful and energetic the whole day. Which is more than I can say for myself! I caught a nap while Anya painted with a lady from the playroom. Anya is quite a little charmer with all of the staff and interacts very well with them. We spent the day watching TV, reading books, playing and talking in her room, playing in the playroom, walking the halls and looking at the two aquariums on her floor. Anya's spirits are high and she continues to trust that God will heal her. We continue to be blessed by all of the prayers and concern that go out to us. I am here this morning with Isaiah and Esther enjoying some downtime around the house. Here are a list of thanksgivings and ongoing requests for all of you who are praying:
THANKSGIVINGS
- God continues to answer a lot of "little" prayers and we sense His hand and direction often although it is sometimes difficult for Anna and me to maintain a vibrant connection with God in the midst of the pain, confusion, busyness, etc. that characterize our current situation.
- One such "little miracle" was the disappearance of Anya's fever Friday night. We got conflicting readings from one thermometer so we tried another one and got the same reading of 100.5 from her underarm and under her tongue. However, when she was examined just one hour later by the nurse in the ER she had no fever at all and no other signs of infection.
- Another "small miracle" has been Anya's blood counts. Her white cell count and her absolute neutrophil count have both been high, allowing treatment to progress unimpeded throughout the first month of the Consolidation phase. It has also allowed her to attend church a few times, have freinds over and go into public places such as the library. While the doctors are not baffled by the high counts they are very pleased and consider Anya to be doing very well for her stage of treatment. Yesterday one of her doctors called her their "star patient".
- All of our children have been such a blessing to us with their joy, energy and love. We cannot imagine the difficulty of this situation if we did not have each other. We are also so grateful for the love and support of so many family members and freinds from across the country.
- I have been able to visit our home in KC a couple times and am planning another trip in mid October. Our church family there has been so generous and supportive of us and we thank God for them.

REQUESTS
- Complete healing for Anya.
- That we would be a light and witness to the medical staff.
- That Anna and I would find more time to spend in prayer and Scripture reading and that God would bless those efforts with spiritual growth and strength.
- That God would richly bless all those who have been a blessing to us.

P.S. We're also thankful that Isaiah and Esther continue to learn and grow. Zeek is rolling from his back to his stomach frequently these days and Esther asked to go potty...and actually went! for the first time yesterday morning.