Cade The Warrior

After a very brief hospital stay (3 days and 4 nights), we are back at home. And we are still very much processing the fact that WE HAVE FINISHED THIS CHEMO PROTOCOL. We explain it more in the video but basically Cade's kidney health is important, and chemo plus the antibiotic we are giving him for the bacteria that showed up on cultures last week is a bad combination. Our oncologist suggested being done with chemo, and moving forward with scans next week. It is stunning to me how graciously God has carried us so far. When we first heard about how long chemo would be, we were pretty much paralyzed. I couldn't even look at the sheet with the dates listed. Literally. Chad was the one who kept on top of it and would tell me what was ahead, but I basically had to live week to week. I am so thankful Chad and I are gifted differently, or else we both would have been clueless. But chunk by chunk, week by week, day by day, we made it through. And so many of you have been there with...

Cade and I showed up early Monday morning for chemo, food stash in hand with lots of books to read only to find out a few hours later that Cade had a big spike in temperature, and after getting some cultures to make sure there is no infection, we got to leave early and chemo-free. We will go in again this Thursday and Friday to get these infusions again. Here are some specific things to pray for with this chemo group on Thursday: 1. Please pray protection over his kidney, heart, and bladder. He had an ECHO Friday to check heart funcion as on of these chemos can cause heart damage. Please pray Cade is protected! Please also pray against bleeding in the bladder lining and any stress to his remaining kidney as the other chemo in this group is hard on those areas. 2. Please pray against any nausea and especially delayed nausea as that has been the culprit in the past for Cade. Please pray he has ZERO vomiting! 3. Please pray against mouth sores so that Cade can comfortably eat and d...

We have been loving life outside of the hospital, and as we suspected last week, Cade didn't quite make counts for the chemo that was scheduled this Monday so we are enjoying a week of normal life. And it's been remarkably normal.  Since we've been home, we moved Cade's bed into Eden and Haven's room, and so now three of our four sleep in one space. We stagger the exact bed times most nights to reduce bed time angst, but mornings are a general favorite around here and include lots of noise, jumping off beds, reading to each other, etc. I love it so much.  Cade also went to the gym and the park with me for the first time since diagnosis. That's amazing. He even ate out at a restaurant, which we've only done two other times. All these very normal things feel very abnormal and special, which is a part of the gift of this season I'm sure.  We are still fervently praying that: 1. Cade's body and immunities kick into high gear and comple...

(Chad brought this medal for Cade he won in go-cart racing, and Cade wore it every. single. day. whil we were in inpatient.) (This basketball hoop was installed the hour before we drove Cade home and he is basically the next Michael Jordan.) (This is Cade and Bunny happily sleeping last night in their own big bed.) (And this is a typical glimpse of the kind of "guys' nights Chad and Cade have in the hospital complete with popcorn, football, and no pants...for Cade at least). We are happy to say that everyone is asleep in their own beds, out of the hospital. We wrapped up our final 5 day in this protocol, and finished out the final expected hospital stay. It was our shortest stay yet, and at it also felt the most routine out of all of them. After this long, we seem to have established a great system, including the most amazing grandparents around us. Chad and I have incredible parents, who willingly do things like spend hours with Cade at the hospital help...

We wrapped up Cade's last five day Friday, and he got to play with his sisters all weekend and do lots of normal things. Monday morning hit, and so did the wave of chemo. He spent most of the day sleeping and getting sick, but still was his very pleasant precious little self. We are praying that he will be able to get transfusions this week outpatient so we can avoid an inpatient stay, but we clearly want whatever is best and safest for Cade.  Please pray that these chemos effectively knock out any remaining cancer cell and memory of the cells in his lungs, and that his little body obeys God's voice and command for LIGHT in his inmost being.  Please pray for our family to continue to trust God, and not give our minds permission to think or worry about things over which we have no control. I read a quote yesterday by Billy Graham I thought was worth sharing: "This should be the motto of every follower of Jesus Christ. No matter how dark and hopeless a situation ...

Cade finished his first day today of his last 5 day chemo in this protocol. My mom is here taking care of the girls in the morning, and like everyone else we are back in the swing of the school year. Eden told me today was "real school", as opposed to last week's fake school. Our scans last Monday led us into a very tumultuous week of waiting, but looking back I am extremely thankful for the delay. It meant when we did get the phone call, Eden was back in school, and our hearts were prepared. We explain in the video in more detail, but the bottom line is that they saw four new small nodules in Cade's lungs that they assume are tumor. There will be no certainty until they can surgically removed and put under a microscope. We are praying that by the end of the next six weeks, these nodules have completely disappeared. And if they haven't, that upon resection they show only dead cells.  On Wednesday, our oncologist meets with the solid tumor team and will pre...

Week 30 is upon us, and scans were yesterday. Cade was relaxed during the actual scans, but that was only after he had gave the technician a real show when she was trying to put an IV in his arm. We haven't heard results yet but we do anticipate news today sometime. The waiting is never my best moment. As Chad and I both said in the video, we vacillate between different extremes all throughout the day. This morning we spent a minute processing that together. It is really precious to work out this stuff alongside my best friend. He is a great man, and thinks very differently than I do so it is helpful in circumstances like this to compare notes. I can write a post like last week, asking for my stuff back with the Lord, totally confident He loves me and He's a good Father and wants his kids to be repaid for all of their trouble, and simultaneously I can also realize there are many who never get their stuff back on this side of life. They die without ever seeing the recompense...