Persy has been very itchy the last couple of days, sometimes even scratching himself to the point of bleeding. This is a side effect of the morphine he gets for pain. Although he had been successfully switched from IV to oral pain meds, his medical team decided to go back to IV to reduce the itching, and it has seemed to help some already. The good news is that now we know Persy’s pain can be managed with oral meds, which will be very important for when he is finally able to go home.

On top of having itchy skin, Persy has also developed a rash on his thighs and tummy in the last day. The doctors aren’t positive, but they suspect that it could be from his weekend antibiotic, so they will hold off on giving that for now.

Yesterday Persy was an absolute champ while the nurses had to clean and redress his port. He sat with mama while they took the IV out, cleaned it, and then had to re-access it with the needle. Ouch! Our little tough stuff!

The pump connected to Persy’s chest tube continues to suck out a lot of fluid from his lung, but it is collecting less over time, which is what the doctors want to see. The next step would be to go from the pump to a water seal which would continue to drain the fluid until they are able to remove the tube entirely. Unfortunately, Persy’s chest tube was pulled out a bit - we suspect it happened during the night as he was more awake and playful after sleeping a lot in the afternoon/evening. Although he has had some bleeding from the insertion site, it is still functioning properly, and Persy will have a chest x-ray in the morning to check it’s placement as well as to see how his lung is looking after all this draining.

Because Persy is losing some blood through his chest tube along with the draining fluid, the doctors want to be sure his numbers stay up, so he received another blood transfusion and platelets yesterday.

The nurses have been giving P nausea meds each day since he began his chemo treatments and he has not had any vomiting until today. Unfortunately he threw up this morning right after drinking a cup of milk, eating part of a pancake, and taking 3 oral meds.

Despite all of this, Persy continues to be his sweet, happy self. Yesterday he spent time playing with his cars and garages with mama. He enjoyed a visit with his aunt Ty Ty, and even played the guitar with Miss Morgan, the musical therapist.

Little victories

• Persy’s fevers have reduced in frequency. He’s only spiked one in the last two days!
• Persy’s chest tube pump continues to collect less fluid each day and the color has been clearer and less bloody.
• Although he definitely has his ups and downs, overall, Persy has remained in good spirits! He continues to play, read, sing, enjoy his ipad, and SMILE!
• Persy ate chicken fingers for lunch! Yay protein!..his first meat since coming to the hospital!

Please pray

• For Persy’s rash to go away and for his itching to continue to improve.
• For Persy’s chest imaging to reveal that his chest tube is still in place and for his pleural effusion to be better.
• For no more fevers and decreased tummy pain.
• For the chemo treatments to work and for the tumors to get smaller so that fluid stops accumulating in Persy’s lung.
• For Persy’s body to respond to the chemo and specifically that the chemo obliterates all the metastatic cancer sites in his body.
• For his cancer to be attacked by the chemo, but for his precious body to be protected from the damage caused by the toxic chemicals.
• For strength for Persy’s mama and dada and his whole family.

God our Defense, we ask that You help us to trust You fully throughout Persy’s journey to full health. Thank You that we can come boldly and confidently into Your presence with our requests. Our faith can easily falter when faced with challenge after challenge and complication after compilation. And yet, You alone are our refuge, our place of safety. You are our God, and we trust You. Amen.