Calling all prayer warriors!!! Tomorrow, since coming home, Jax will have his 8th round of inter-artery chemotherapy and on Wednesday he will have his first round of inter-ocular chemotherapy.
Since beginning this journey with our sweet boy jewel, the doctors had shared about this procedure. They shared how it was being utilized by several doctors but how they had never done it, nor did they want to do it. The way I understood it was that there was too many risks and unknowns. Then throughout the last couple of months one of our doctors has been advocating that maybe we needed to consider this chemo treatment while another doctor (the one that would be performing it), was resistant. He had never done it before. He didn't have all of the information.
The procedure involves sticking a needle full of the chemo drug directly into Jax's eye. The main risks are the high risks to the eye directly as you can imagine that precision will be the key to ensure the needle does not hit the lense of the eye; as well as that again unless it is done perfectly poking a hole in Jax's eye could give the tumors a way out of the eye (spreading to Jax's body). Another major concern is the toxicity of the high amount of chemotherapy that will be administered to Jax's eye.
To prevent spreading the cancer to the body, Jax's lid of his eye will be frozen. To prevent hitting the lense, our doctor last week measured the lense of Jax's eye.
The reason the doctors now want to do it, is that it is the most direct way to get the chemo drugs to the eye which means that more chemo drugs will actually hit the tumors. Chemotherapy drugs have a literal couple of minutes of shelf life so to speak, before they lose their effectiveness. With inter artery chemo the drugs travel through the body, with inter-ocular it goes directly. Jax's situation is honestly desparate as his cancer cells seem to be smart and aggressive, finding ways around the chemo drugs.
Honestly, although this has been explained repeatedly it does not make sense to my brain. And my heart, well it can't even begin to comprehend it. My heart borders on feeling scared, yet God is covering and protecting my
heart.
As the inter-ocular treatment was only scheduled last week, Jax will have to be put under both tomorrow and Wednesday. On both mornings he won't be able to eat. He will go from ICU back to the surgery room. We are expecting to head back home Wednesday
night. One drug will be administered through the inter-ocular treatment while two different drugs will be administered through the inter-artery chemotherapy.
There are the same high risks with the inter-artery chemotherapy. The concerns are blood clots, internal organ failure, and a stroke.
What these doctors are able to do is mind blowing. That we have such advanced medical treatment readily available for our little guy is heart blowing. Not sure how we will ever be able to adequately thank the team at Children's.
Please pray for a seamless, protected and anointed process, every step of the way: the car rides, the pre and post surgery recovery, the actual treatments, steady hands for the doctors, ICU, sleeping ... Please pray that God protect Jax physically and emotionally.
We really didn't think we would be here. It was not part of our reality. But God knew we would be and I take great comfort in knowing that He is not surprised by any of this. Have you ever been so far out on a limb that if God didn't show up you wouldn't make it. Although that analogy doesn't totally align with my heart as I believe that God never leaves us, it is still how I feel. We as a family are so out on a limb that we desparately need Jesus for our everything and if He doesn't show up we won't make it. We are pressed on every side ... cancer, our jewels, our jobs, our home, our finances, weekly visits to Childrens ... BUT we are not in despair!!!!! We are trusting and completely relying on the King of the Universe, our Creator and Father.
Honestly on some days I'm surprised we are still up right as none of this is easy. We didn't plan any of it and it is
actually requiring us to continue to surrender OUR dreams and plans for our lives. We feel like we need to make some life changes as our family cannot repeat the last eight months without making changes. We are not sure yet the details of this or exactly what God is asking from us. This I realize is vague.
God is asking us once again to surrender some of our dreams. Last week test results were an answer to prayer and we are so thankful, yet the tumors are still substantial and the road ahead of us seems long. We certainly don't see an end in sight in any near future. We also are becoming that much aware that we have no control over anything and that we need to be prepared for anything. We would appreciate your prayers for direction and provision!!!
We so appreciate everyone's prayer support. Jax is a total gift and we do consider it a sacred gift to be his forever parents and would do it all again. As hard as things have been and as they are we are simultaneously so thankful for our Jax as God has so richly blessed us through Him.
Our continual prayer as a family is that as we walk out cancer we would press in to Jesus and to each other as a family. That is happening on profound levels. I praise my Jesus as He is carrying us.
Comments