Here we go again...

A week ago Cooper completed his final chemo treatment of Phase 3!!! As we always say walking out of that hospital...

"Check another one off the list!" (I do have a literal list, ha!)

This last chemo hit him harder than the other ones in Phase 3, which makes sense since they increase the intensity of it each time. He spent the following day in bed and nauseous. The next couple days he had low energy and "wasn't himself". Now he's back and yesterday he completed a FULL day at school! That's a first for him since his diagnosis.

Our medical team is kind of freaking us out about this upcoming phase. Steroids come back (those wrecked him that first month) and there are a few new drugs introduced that are suppose to be pretty rough.

Our nurse informed us that she hasn't met a kid who hasn't needed a blood transfusion in this phase. This is where they can bottom out with their counts. :(

Enter in more big, bold prayers!

We are expecting high blood sugars from steroids, which cause a much higher risk for infection-

Lord, strengthen and protect Cooper's body. Help him to regulate his blood sugars and not get into dangerous numbers or even to the point of needing insulin this time.

We are expecting his counts to bottom out and he will need blood transfusions- Sweet Jesus, protect his good blood cells, he needs those. Let our doctors and nurses meet their FIRST kid who DOESN'T need a blood transfusion in this phase. Let them look at Cooper in awe, wondering how this is possible. Flex and show you are bigger than any statistic.

Last night when I was tucking Cooper in I asked him, "How many people do you think are actually, like for real praying for you?"

Well here, I'll just let him answer :)

Cooper's Answer

This weekend he will get to play in 3 flag football games (one of them at the Broncos stadium!). I said, "Coop, it will be so cool to watch you play for your very first time at the Bronco stadium!" 

His response, "It won't be the last..." :)

Dang, I feel that bud! Dream little man, you have a strong future ahead of you. I am standing firm in that, pleading to God for that future. I dream of watching you run onto that field, giving God all the glory. When I close my eyes I feel like I can vividly picture that. Your life is a testimony to how good and powerful our God is.

Today we are good, I soak up every second I see Cooper getting to experience being a "normal" 9 year old boy...

I want him to stay "good". I don't want him to suffer, I don't want to "lose" him again, I don't want to see him struggle. Yet, that's what we are anticipating and the dread of those thoughts swirl inside me.

I have to mentally tell myself, "Brittany, release your jaw, let your shoulders relax, take a deep breath." My heart can sink with so much fear so quickly that I often have to just repeat to myself, "God IS in control." Hopefully after this phase (a little over two months worth) it will feel like we can start climbing out of this valley!

This song just came out TODAY and I can't stop listening to it! I think my favorite line in this song is, "fire in His eyes, healing in His veins".

If you are one of the 1,036,001 people literally praying for Cooper (according to him 🧡) THANK YOU!!! Please don't stop 🧡

We kick off Phase 4 also known as "delayed intensification" with another spinal tap (I hate watching him get put to sleep) on Good Friday.

Good Friday is such an ironic name for what happened to Jesus on that day. Why or how can SO much pain and suffering be considered "good"? I think of Jesus' mom watching her son suffer on that dreadful day. God knew the ending to that story, something no one could fathom or dream up. In the midst of our pain and suffering here on earth, I KNOW that God weaves all things together for good. I may never understand the details of that on this side of heaven but I trust the one writing the story. And I still give him some ideas on how I think the plot should go :)

If you think about Cooper on Good Friday, please lift him up in your prayers as he "crosses another one off the list!"...

Much Love 🧡