February 2014 Update on our son

God has been so good to give us about a year without much concern over Joe's kidneys.  We were even able to reduce some medicines.  Joe's kidneys maintained their function around 27-28% for this last year.  However, in January we saw that changing.

Last month, we noticed his function had dropped from 28% to 23%.  I began to notice more fatigue and difficulty sleeping for Joe.  He will also have days that he has no desire to eat.  Joe has lost 4 pounds in the last 2 months. The nephrologist said that if the function did not come up we would need to make contact with Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City again.  Unfortunately, his function dropped another percent, to 22%.

We saw our kidney doctor on Monday in Oklahoma City.  He believes it is time to go back to Kansas City and prepare for transplant.  He estimates we have about 6 months, before Joe gets real sick.

This is hard for us all to take in and process.  Jeremy and I have really struggled this week having to face this reality again.  Joe has taken it very hard.  His anxiety is really high.

I have called Children's Mercy and I am waiting to hear back from them on when we need to return to renew Joe and Jeremy's evaluation for transplant.  I assume we will go sometime in March.

Will you pray with us for our son's anxiety and overall nervousness to go down, for Jeremy and I to take each day calmly and with peace so we can help our kids deal with this stress and for Joe to not feel like so poorly?  We trust God with our son.  We trust God is holding us in His righteous right hand (Isa 40:31).  We know He has good plans for us (Jer 33:11).

Thank you.  We can use all of your encouraging words and support until we can get our "feet back under us" and are ready to fight.