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Prayers for Nephew

That is an amazing young man you have there and an amazing family.
God bless Jedi and your family and provide a quick and complete recovery.
In my prayers.
 
Prayers sent, beat lymphoma myself and am convinced my grandparents many rosary’s were as much a part of the healing process as anything else.
 
As of yesterday morning Jedi had improved enough throughout the week to be able to go home. The staff coordinated all the medication, blood pressure monitoring, follow-up, etc. We had prepped to the point of everything being on a cart to wheel out the door. Patrick felt Jedi’s head and it was warm. Poor guy. As Jedi’s temperature rose his spirits fell. Tears came freely as he realized he would not get to be with his brothers at home once again.
This journey keeps throwing us curveballs. It seems that when one thing gets better another gets worse. Jedi has bad mouth/lip sores as a side effect of this chemo regimen. When he woke up this morning they were really painful, but thankfully he got some relief with a lidocaine combo mouth rinse.
His temperature this morning is 101.5, so they drew blood cultures again and started antibiotics. After we saw the doctors they think, at this point, that Jedi may be having fevers this time due to his severe neutropenia. His white count and ANC are lower than they have ever been. Because of this, we are in the hospital for the duration of the weekend and will re-evaluate on Monday. We are hopeful that his ANC will be on the rise soon and will jump back quicker with the addition of Neupogen. We are hoping to be a bit more aggressive with this chemo regimen (every 2 weeks) and in order to do that his counts need to recover. His platelets have stabilized at 47K, so we will restart his blood thinner injections this evening at half the dose.
As I reflect on the last few weeks I realized that we have spent more time in the hospital than at home. Understandably this is challenging for our little guy, because he can’t see or play with his brothers, granny and grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousins as he so much enjoys. They do come visit him every day outside, and that lifts his spirits like no other! We try to focus on those memories to help us get through the days here.
We also pray that we can focus on the promises that God will make all things right in His time. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter‬ ‭5:6‬
The knowledge that we have a loving, merciful, grace-filled Father continues to comfort us and guide us along this path. I was encouraged as the following song filled my mind and my voice this morning. God will make all things right for Jedi in His time
Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement, and cards. We are so blessed to be supported on this journey by such amazing people! Love from the Schallers
In His time, in His time,
He makes all thing beautiful in His time.
Lord, my life to you I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to you a lovely thing, in your time.
In your time, in your time,
You make all thing beautiful in your time.
Lord, my life to you I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to you a lovely thing, in your time.
 
Little steps
Journal Entry by Dianna Schaller — 1 hour ago
Today marks the 15th day this month we have been in the hospital. When I focus on the “15 days” I get overwhelmed and exhausted. When I break it down to just today or just this one snuggle session (which is currently happening) I can breathe a little easier. Some people say “baby steps”, some people say “one day at a time”, and others say “it’s a marathon not a sprint”. Either way you phrase it, it all comes down to what is manageable. For me, today, I am choosing to focus on the fact that Jedi’s counts are slightly up, that he went for two walks and that his mouth sores are slightly better. Oh, and he broke out of another box (kind of like an escape room/puzzle thing they have here; he really likes the challenge)!
We found out yesterday that Noah will be home late Friday! Granny, grandpa and Isaiah plan to drive to get him in Missouri. Jedi was able to FaceTime with Noah for a half hour yesterday. That really made both of their days.
Until Friday, Jedi is focusing on resting and healing, so he can get out of the hospital. He has plans to ride with Noah in his car to Noah’s favorite coffee shop We are all praying that those plans come to fruition
I would like to share part of my devotion from today...particularly the prayer. Thank you all for continuing to support us on this journey, one day at a time, through the baby steps, and all along the marathon route. We are truly grateful!

Health Concerns

The last thing any of us want is to walk through any illnesses, diseases, or disabilities. But, at some point in our lives, we’ll typically go through some kind of ailment that drives us to beg God to heal us. In these dark, health-challenged valleys, we can cling to the hope we find in Scripture.

Today’s Prayer
Lord, I won’t be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by praying and with thanksgiving, I’ll present my requests to You. Then, Your perfect peace, which surpasses my intellect, will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I won’t fear for You are with me. I won’t be dismayed for You are my God. You will strengthen me and help me, and You will uphold me with Your righteous right hand. Lord, You heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds. And You sent Jesus to be pierced for my transgressions and crushed for my iniquities, and by His wounds, I am healed! And one day in Heaven, You’ll wipe every tear from my eyes, for there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain.
 
Prayers for Jedi and family. Hope he makes a full and lasting recovery to be another proof God is in control and he is in the healing business.
 
Still praying for Jedi's full recovery, for the family's strength, and the doctor's wisdom. Thankful he is surrounded by such a great family.
 
Prayers going out again. In God we trust.
I even had the pleasure meeting Mike in La Crosse this weekend. Meeting new friends and seeing old friends.
Mike and Heather
 
We are so thankful for an amazing weekend with all our boys home! A huge thank you to granny, grandpa, and Isaiah for making the trip to Missouri to pick up Noah. They made great time and were home by 7:15 pm Friday! The reunion was wonderful with lots of hugs and tears (well the tears were mostly me)
Jedi has had a great weekend. He has gotten lots of snuggles from his older brother. It warms my heart to see them together again! We really just hung out at home catching up with Noah, playing games and resting. Aunt María and Uncle Phil isolated for two weeks so they could spend time with us. That, too, was an amazing reunion as I haven’t been able to hold Amos (my godson) for 3 months! I’m thankful for baby snuggles to calm my heart.
Since Jedi’s platelets were recovering before we left the hospital, he was put on a larger dose of blood thinning medicine. That combined with the shot to help his neutrophils recover brought the total to three shots in his belly every day! He has been a trooper, but the larger amount of medication stings quite a bit The other morning he looked at me with his little puppy dog eyes and said, “mom, I just really don’t want to get a shot today!” To which I replied, “well, I really don’t want to give you a shot today.” We sat there for a bit and then talked about how there are a lot of things in life that we would rather not do, but they are for our benefit. We also discussed again the importance of the medication to keep the blood clot in his heart from getting larger. I’m so thankful that we can sit and have these moments together, and that he understands what is needed right now. He is just so precious!
Tomorrow morning we head to the clinic for blood draws and dressing change. If all of his numbers are okay then we will proceed to the PICU for his chemotherapy. Because the doctors can not rule out a reaction to the chemo as a possible cause of the episode he had two weeks ago, they want him monitored very closely for this round. We certainly appreciate their diligence to keeping Jedi safe and pray that this round goes well. We ask that you please join us in that prayer and that we can return home Tuesday afternoon
This weekend we said prayers with the family including the little cousins before meals. This one simple prayer was so sweet and just reminded me that we can be thankful in any circumstance. “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:18‬
Lord we thank You,
Lord we thank You,
For this food,
For this food,
And our many blessings,
And our many blessings,
Amen!
Amen!
Blessings to you all from the Schallers
 
Crazy faith
Journal Entry by Dianna Schaller — 8 hours ago
We made it through and are home! All praise to the Lord for his provision this week
Monday morning we started in the clinic to check labs, because if Jedi’s numbers were off we wouldn’t proceed with chemo. Right off the bat his lines would not work at all, so not a great start. They had trouble before drawing blood without flushing first, but his lines always at least flushed. It took quite a bit of work and some clot busting medicine, but we were back in business. The doctor even joked that if a clogged line was the worst thing to happen that day we would take it! Jedi’s numbers came back good, so we headed over to the PICU for chemo and observation. They watched him very closely and ran the medications in at a slower rate. Jedi handled it all like a champ with no adverse reactions! We were discharged Tuesday evening and returned to the clinic today for his final IV chemo medication this round. Again he completed it with no negative reactions. Thank you, God!
Tomorrow begins the three-a-day shot sessions again. We started to give some of them in his upper legs to ease the burden on his belly. He seems to have less pain with the leg shots, so we will continue those for now. We are praying that a few of his labs normalize so he can decrease the amount of pills he has to take every day. He is such a trooper, but the amount has gotten to the point where he is full before he even gets to mealtime. They all have their purpose and I’m so thankful that Jedi understands this. It is quite impressive that he has memorized all their names and can even tell you what they are for
We return to the clinic for a lab draw on Friday as his numbers will start to trend down in this cycle. We are praying for no mouth sores this time, as that was really miserable for him last week.
We are so excited to announce the newest addition to the Schaller family, Captain Socks. He is the most beautiful, friendly, soft, playful Birman kitty. He loves on Jedi so much and frequently climbs into his lap to snuggle. Check the album for a picture
As we travel along on this journey, we continue to encounter things that perplex us. While we don’t believe in coincidence, we do believe in divine providence. It may not be clear to us now why everything is happening the way it is, but we have faith in the One who has complete clarity!
Thank you all for continuing to walk alongside us in this journey. Please continue to lift up Jedi’s complete healing in your prayers. God’s timing is perfect and we will continue to put our hope in Him!
I read a devotion about “crazy” faith the other day and it really spoke to me. I pray that “I put my personal trust and confidence in Him and let go of the trust and confidence that I had in myself or other humans.”
 

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