Joel's Journey: "Thou art my hiding place"

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

"Thou art my hiding place"

Once again we made the trip to the clinic for Joel's blood counts. This time the counts were good. His platlets have come up, his white cells were good, and his hemoglobin was still hanging in there. All this means that they have set us up to check into the hospital (OU Medical Children's) tomorrow at 11:00 AM. We are making preparations for a stay of 2 or 3 days for this round of chemotherapy.

Joel is feeling so good, that he even came up to tell me, "Josiah is running". He has not felt that good in some time. We are grateful for the good days when he is eating and has a strong spirit. This will be a test of his endurance as he goes through chemo for the second time.

We read Psalm 32 tonight and meditated for a few minutes on verse 7. The verse reads, "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah." May the Lord in his mercy bring this truth powerfully into our lives in this time of trouble. Here are some things that we would ask you to pray for:

*Joel's tumors to shrink

*His body and inner organs to be protected

*His appetite to stay strong

*That he will have no side effects from the chemo

*That the children at home with grandparents will be protected and calm

*That Joel will be protected during his next blood transfusion (possibly Thurs or Fri morn)

Thanks again to all of you that continue to support us in so many ways.....

1 comment:

Teena said...: Just stopping by to check in~ as I pray tonight I will remember that Joel is probably in the hospital as I type. Praying for the healing touch of the Father~ praying for Josiah and others at home. Praying for your strength daily as you walk this journey. May you know others are lifting you up to the Father.

I will continue to pray DAILY for Joel.

blessings,
Teena mom to 1/2 dozen; January 3, 2007 at 7:07 PM

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Joel's Story

Joel, our 11th of 13 and a twin of Josiah, at age 3 was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, on December 6th, 2006. Joel had three perfect years of health and he and Josiah celebrated their 3rd birthday Sept. 13th, 2006. The first of Oct. Joel started having unexplained fevers for a few days and would return to active play. After the fourth round of fevers we took him to our family Dr. which they said his iron was low, so we treated that for a few weeks and took him back only to have his hemo. showing lower than before. We were referred to a hematologists and saw him a few weeks with blood checks twice a week. At a visit on Dec. 4th we showed the Dr. the bumps, (which were tumors but we did not know at the time) on Joel's head and he was very concerned and we were told we needed to admit him immediately and start extensive tests the following day. Joel went through rigorous testing and then the dreaded results were given. Joel was at a stage IV the most extensive stage, but we were hopeful that the Lord would use the means of Chemotherapy treatments to restore Joel's body. Joel endured 8 1/2 days in the hospital, came home for Christmas, and returned for his second round of chemo Jan. 3, 2007. Joel had a seizure that night after midnight and went into a coma due to a tumor bleeding in his head area and causing his brain to swell. After tests the following days, the Dr. declared Joel "brain dead" and took us to court to force us to take Joel off life support, as we did not agree with the medical field's definition of death. Our family sought to stand with the scripture, "life is in the blood,"and until Joel's heart quit beating naturally, he was living. We were making arrangements to bring him home and on January 23, 2007 his little heart stopped beating and he went to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. Our lives are changed forever. God is faithful in the midst of this trial and we look with great hope to be with him someday.