Isaiah 41:14
I will help thee, saith the Lord.
This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: "I will help thee." "It is but a small thing for Me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with My blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help thee! It is the least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more." "Before the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I laid aside My glory and became a man for thee; I gave up My life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give. 'Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. 'Help thee?' Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. 'I will help thee.'" O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring hither thine empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring them here-thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs. Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!
"Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismay'd!
I, I am thy God, and will still give thee aid."
God used Spurgeon to ministered to my Mommys heart this morning. She is a little anxious going into Immunotherapy & she
really wanted me to share it! God is so faithful to gently remind her that He is our help and as we begin this new phase of treatment He will help us as he always has. He will give us the strength to walk this journey, He will give the doctors wisdom to take care of me and He will supply the peace that surpasses all understanding. HE will take care of me....He always has. It was His hand that has brought me this far and I am safe in his arms. I get admitted for my first ch.14.18 treatment tonight. This round begins at 9 in the morning and will run over 10 hours Mon - Thursday. This drug is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that is designed to attach to specific targets on cancer cells. In neuroblastoma one such target is GD-2. Ch 14.18 was designed to attach to neuroblastoma cells and other cells that have GD-2 present. when ch 14.18 attaches to the neuroblastoma cells, the bodies immune system is stimulated to attack and kill the neuroblastoma cells. This is called immunotherapy. Ch14.18 represents a new kind of cancer therapy because it targets the cancer cells without destroying the nearby healthy cells unlike chemotherapy and radiation. I will also be given GM-CSF which is supposed to increase the anti-cancer effect of monoclonal antibodies like ch.14.18. I will also be given Interleukin - 2 but I won't get it until feb 6th. I will be treated with 6 courses of therapy and each course will last between 24 and 32 days. I will be treated with ch.14.18, GM-CSF, and isotretinoin ( which I will be given at home by Mommy and Daddy) in courses 1,3 & 5. In course 2 and 4 I will be treated with ch.14.18 and Interleukin - 2 "IL-2" In course 6 I will be given Isotretinoin. Whoo --- alot of info.... I will do my best to update you specifically how to pray each time as it's alot of info and the side effects and risk vary depeding on what i am getting. It is going to be a tough couple of months as I do not get a break from treatment. I will be receiving Isotretinion whenever I am at home along with GM-CSF. So, here goes....
Before I go into the prayer request many of you may be asking why we are doing this espcially when you hear the risk when I am cancer free. Well, very small amounts of Neuroblastoma can be present that are too small to be detected by a microscope. These small amounts are called Minimal Residual Disease. Although I have responded AMAZINGLY to treatment (Thank You Jesus) the truth is that High Risk Neuroblastoma has a high relaspe rate and is harder to get rid of if it returns. So Daddy and Mommy have prayerfully considered what is best for me and feel this is the path God has us on. We will take this day to day. That's all we can do. We know that the same God that brought us this far will carry us through this next part of our journey through childhood cancer. Please pray for me this week. Most likely I will be nauseated, have severe pain in my back, abdomen, cramping, arms, legs, head, nerves, headache which will require administrating of pain releiving medicine (which will start one hour before treatment) I could have an allergic reaction which could be life threatning with fever, hives, tongue sweeling, shortness of breath or wheezing, low oxygen levels in the blood, low blood pressure and a rapid heart rate. Loss or change of sensitivity to touch (numbness or tingling) a slight drop or rise in blood pressure... There are many other possible side effects too many to list (The Lord knows each one of them & as Daddy reminded Mommy tonight the same God who carried and protected me through Chemo will carry and protect me now). Pray for wisdom for the doctors and nurses to stay ahead of the pain ( I will be on a morphine pump) to be able to detect early if there are any complications and meet them head on. Pray that my body will tolerate this treatment. It is possible to have to stop the immunotherapy at any point due to potential risk to my overall health. Thanks for your prayers.
