Hey friends,

It has been a long and brutal week. We are coming out of the woods with the respiratory virus- he is fever free and breathing on his own now with the help of breathing treatments every few hours. We had some very scary "tacky" nights and are so so thankful for a beep/alarm free room today.

He is still relying on TPN nutrition and IV liquids. The doctor gave us the go ahead to start pushing soft solids and cold liquids, but he says his system just isn't quite ready... so we are holding off.

This week presented a lot of communication challenges, he was completely non-verbal. We got him a bell, came up with a number system for his particular things and the hospital gave us a sheet with pictures of common needs. If anyone has anymore ideas, we'd love them as this will be something he will unfortunately experience frequently moving forward with treatment. 

His blood counts look good and he is on track to start his next round of chemotherapy on valentine's day. We are really hoping we can get a couple days home before that, but also completely terrified he could pick up another bug or virus.

His moral is low and he is understandably angry.

Specific prayer requests-

•His mental health, his understanding and comfort

•Protect his body from all the common illnesses going around that are life threatening to him

•Wisdom and endurance for Michael and I on how to best support all 4 of our kiddos struggling heavily in their own ways

•Compliance and ease with insurance and that the numbers won't make sense in a supernatural way as the bills start to roll in and the reality of losing an income sets

•Endurance for our PEOPLE, the ones helping us with over nights and consistent childcare... many hands make light work, but it's still a lot of work

Thank you for being our village, 

The Petersons