19 June evening update: The littlest among you: an urgent prayer request

June 19 Evening update: This is from his grandfather:

N. was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia circa June 1, 2012, and he was immediately admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland. He has had a rough “go of it” since the beginning, and we are deeply appreciative of the prayers that have been offered so far. But, many more will be needed.

Our present, serious concern is that the problem has migrated from a Leukemia one to a breathing one, which heightens the concern of everyone.

K. was awakened by a phone call from her husband, B., at 8:45am, today. N. had an oxygen tube near his face to help with his labored breathing, but still his breathing continued to be labored.

The doctors are not pleased with his rapid breathing – over 70 a minute when it should only be about 15. N. still has a fever.

First order of the day is red blood. He will receive and hopefully bring down the rapid breathing.

Next order will be a CT scan to see if they have missed anything. Depending on all of this outcome, N. may need to be moved to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) since the breathing issue/fever is more important to care for than the leukemia. His little body cannot continue breathing so fast; it’s too labor intensive.

B. recognizes this new obstacle added to all the others, but he is really very well grounded in his faith. He quickly reminded himself how God’s hand is and always has been in this.

B. not only asks for prayers for N., but he also asks for prayers for the doctors so that they have wisdom; pray that B. will have the strength while he is with N. for the day. Pray that K. will have the strength so that she will have a good day with their other children. Pray for your own and realize how precious each moment is.

19 June morning update: This email updates the earlier email about N., our 2 and 1/2 year old grandson, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

He was originally at Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) for about 10 days, and then he was released to spend time at home with his siblings. This course-of-action is usually taken by JHH so as to give the patient some comfort with the family.

N. was only home for a few days when he developed a 102.3 degree fever. It seems that because of the chemo his white blood count had got dangerously low, and so his body couldn’t ward off infections. They said that if his body temperature exceeded 100 degrees that he was to be taken back to the hospital immediately.

I’m not sure what this count designation means, but the count should be greater than 500. His count was 78 the first time it was measured, and a second measurement a day or so later was 30! This value is dangerously low! He has been on an antibiotic I.V. since he got back to JHH, and they have been taking continuous blood samples and doing work with cultures to determine the type of infection, which they found is confined to the blood. They have been “juggling” the medications to try to better attack the specific culture that they have isolated.

As of this Monday, his body temperature continues to oscillate between high and low. This morning’s reading was reported as high, but I don’t know the value. N. thankfully slept better Sunday night after being up to 5:00 am the night before. K. has been icing him down and having hospital give him I.V. of Tylenol to help lower his temperature.

He’s now experiencing joint pain which makes him grimace, suspected to be a side effect of the chemo.

Please keep your prayers coming! Emergency Chaplet of the Immaculate Conception.

The original post and it’s previous updates follows:

Remember the miracle we had with the little girl for whom we prayed? Prayers are not always answered the way we would want them answered, but they are answered, especially, mind you, prayers for the littlest ones among us.

One of HSH readers has requested prayers for a two year old boy who has ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). He’s presently in the ER at John Hopkins Pediatric Center.

ALL is the most common form. There are T-cells and B-cells, and with N., the B-cells are reproducing in an out-of-control manner. Consequently, within the bone marrow, these “immature” B-cells crowd out the platelets and red blood cells (RBC). Tomorrow morning, they will be going into high gear by doing a spinal tap, a bone marrow sample test, and the insertion of a port for administering chemotherapy drugs. If abnormal cells are found within the spinal fluid, they will immediately administer chemo to this fluid. Prayers will be appreciated.

Might I suggest that, in your charity for this little one, we pray the Emergency Chaplet of the Immaculate Conception. Yes, that means you too, dearest reader…

Update (a great suggestion from an email):

Please also suggest that everyone include all the healthcare professionals and immediate family.  One of my first real jobs many, many years ago was working on the Pediatric Oncology Ward as a Unit Coord. at NIH.  The kids, although they undoubtedly suffer, are remarkably resilient.  The immediate family members and healthcare staff, however, not so much.  Needless to say, I didn’t last long there.

UPDATE:

“N. update!!! Port is in. Bone marrow extracted. Lumbar puncture with Chemo started. White blood cell count significantly decreased from 96K to 22K (which is excellent ) all results before Chemo started…..explanation??? God!!! God is good ALL OF THE TIME!! Keep praying “

“And now today:”

“”Lil guy is fighting high blood pressure… is 139/80 which is high for an adult  starting blood pressure meds tmrw… on top of everything else going on. Keep praying! God is amazing “”

“I don’t know enough about this disease to know if the blood pressure is typical or if this is another problem – I just pray. I am praying the emergency Chaplet and also went to adoration today. We  have adoration on the first Sunday of the month at Holy Spirit. I try not to miss  – today I had a real important reason to talk to Jesus.”

HSH COMMENT: This is totally wonderful. Let’s keep praying. Thanksgiving is always appropriate, however things go. This is going very well right now. I’m going to offer another Emergency Chaplet of the Immaculate Conception in thanksgiving.

16 June update: I just received an update on little N. from his grandma and thought I would share it with you.

Update on N. – He has spiked a fever of 102.3. He was supposed to get chemo and platelette treatment. He is in the hospital again. They took blood and tested it. It looks like a long haul in the hospital, at least 2 or 3 weeks. He is so weak and the white count can’t fight the infection. N. is on antibiotics and an IV drip. His mother will spend the weekend with N. and then we will see what the family plans are on spending the nights again.

They say this is what happens. They send him home and then he can’t cope and ends back in the hospital because he is too weak to fight the infections.

So, Father we have to keep the prayers going. I have been saying the emergency chaplet everyday.

I thought he was doing so much better but this shocked us all even though it seems to be a set-back that isn’t unusual.