it’s been about 4 and half months since lewis was healed of his brain tumor. that was something we got to celebrate by sharing with our church family last sunday. lewis announced his good news, and we got to cry on stage in front of everyone while explaining just what these past six months or so have felt like. we also got to REJOICE with the rest of the church in lewis’ healing & that was just about the best thing ever. it was such a privilege to share what god has been doing in our lives & to celebrate with so many people who have prayed for us along the way. praise god from whom all blessings flow!

we’re also going to be marking the miracle by taking out lewis’ port that was placed in november 2021 (almost two years ago!). it’s crazy to look back at everything that’s happened since then — to see how young lewis was when we put it in and how far he’s come. 3 brain surgeries, 34 infusion sessions, & countless appointments & pokes that our tough guy has had to endure. the port has really been such a lifesaver & saved lewis from a lot of tough pokes - we are not looking forward to having his blood draws done in the future, though they should hopefully be done only once a quarter.

we went in for the final port flush a few weeks ago & it was rough! lewis normally would not even bat an eye during his port access from his favorite nurse, but since we had gotten out of the rhythm of getting accessed every other week it was VERY hard. lewis was screaming & resisting (wow, he is very strong!) and it was overall very upsetting for us as parents. our hearts go out to the all the kids dealing with port accesses & all the pokes! it is no fun. we were fortunate that lewis was so young when he got his port placed (10 months) because he got used to it very quick & would eat a bar & not even flinch while getting accessed. everyone would be amazed at how easy accessing his port was! having an easy port access made clinic visits a breeze, it would have been so much harder if he had been resisting & fighting that port access each time (like we know so many kids do, & of course they resist it because who wants to get poked!). all to say, lewis had always loved clinic so much & visits were honestly so fun for him when he was going regularly (the nurses LOVED on him hard & made sure he always had a blast!).

the port added all sorts of other worries to our day-to-day too, as there’s a strict rule that if you had a fever you had to be sent straight to the ER to prevent infections. that happened to us a couple of times (including once on vacation…) , and it’s just no fun, so, while we LOVE our nurses & miss seeing them so often & all the support they gave us, it will be so nice to close this chapter and say goodbye to the port for good.

port removal surgery will be sometime this thursday, october 19. please join us in praying for surgery to go smoothly with no complications, no problems with anesthesia, smooth wake-up, easy recovery, & for none of us to get sick before thursday. we are getting a doctor who is newer to the hospital, so we are a little worried about that. but we are eager for god to cast away our fears & wrap this last surgery up so cleanly with a beautiful bowtie. may this be the last surgery lewis has to ever get related to his brain tumor!

otherwise, we are doing great! lewis started preschool this month & is loving it. emmett is already 10 weeks old & is our strong, happy boy. luke is back at work & rachel is getting used to everyone’s new routine.

thank you for your continued prayers! we are so grateful.