It sure has been a long time since I updated our prayer warriors!

Quincy is doing well. He went in for a spinal tap today. That went very well! This is a procedure that allows Dr. Escoto to introduce  chemo into his spinal column and brain. The chemo he gets regularly does not cross into this area, so it has to be injected via a lumbar puncture. 

We will return in 10 days for another round of IV chemo. This will conclude the last phase of his treatment before we enter into maintenance. If all goes as scheduled, he will begin this on Aug. 31st. He will have another spinal on this day. The good part is that he will only have to do this every three months in maintenance. He will also only have to go to the clinic once a month for blood work. In these three month cycles he will take a chemo pill at home everyday and a week of steroids once.

These three month cycles will continue until Dec. 29, 2023 (if no relapse occurs). There will be a massive party at this point!

I will have to say I have been battling fear a lot lately! The best analogy I have come up with is this. A monster was roaming free in our house, until someone told us about it (though there were signs). Once we identified it, a large cage was put over the monster. The monster is still in our house, though kept away from us by a sturdy cage. We know it is there in the cage, but we just can't completely remove it from our house. Eventually we will be told the monster is dead, and the cage will be removed. The "dead" monster will be left in our house though. We just have to trust that it is dead and that it won't come back to life. We will have to adjust to the trauma of knowing there has been a raging monster, and learn to trust that it really is dead. 

This probably sounds dark, but I have been really trying to be honest about how hard this is. I am trusting for God to comfort my fears. As we get closer to "removing" the cage, I find the fear harder to manage. My God is big, and he will continue to be larger than my fears! I wouldn't need him if it weren't larger than what I can handle on my own.

I praise God for how well Quincy is feeling! I praise God for the chance to grow and trust Him more.