Pray for James

James is doing wonderfully well. And we are very, very thankful.


This coming Thursday, February 28th, James will get another kind of chemo, vincristine. He will also get steroids for a week.


In the past, this has caused James some big problems. The vincristine and steroid combination were responsible for the leaking around James' g-tube that ended up being a gastro-colic fistula and required surgery to repair and place a new g-tube (Mar 07). The vincristine also caused entero colitis, which necessitating an ileostomy (Apr 07). We are hopeful that once all his chemo is completed, his ileostomy will be successfully reversed. The last two doses of vincristine with steroids caused James g-tube site to erode. This resulted in two- 5 day hospital stays July and Oct 07) and IV feeds for a while to let the erosion heal and James' intestines get back up to full operation. I initially had this 'great' idea to put links in to the blog posts from these events, but in the interest of getting this done and getting to bed--it is 11:58p.m. as I finish typing this, no matter what time it says it was posted!--I'm just giving you the months, and, if you really want to go back and read it, you can find the posts in the archives through the right side bar on the page!!!)


The problems usually take about one to two weeks to show up.

Sometimes sickness is just as much a spiritual thing as it is physical and we believe that the Lord cares very much for James and our family and desires to be glorified in this whole process. He has so far to us, for sure!


What we would like to do is have a focused 24-hour period praying for James. To, hopefully and Lord willing, cover the whole 24-hour period, we are setting up an online sign-up sheet! Please watch for the link soon--I hope to post it Monday or Tuesday.


The focus for the prayer time includes (but is not limited to! :*) ) praying:


1. that the vincristine and steroids would attack their intended target (any remaining, but unseen leukemia cells).


2. that the Lord would protect James from any side effects from the vincristine. Especially any slowdown in the movement of the intestine.


3. that, in spite of the steroids in his system, his body would continue to heal and protect itself from breakdown and erosion.


4. that James' counts would remain stable, there would be not infection and no need for a hospital stay.


5. most importantly, that God's perfect will would be done and He would get the glory for it!



We are so very grateful for your prayers on James' behalf. Thank you for your care and concern and your encouragement. We are blessed and James is too! May the Lord bless you richly.


Love, Stephanie