Our family loves Christmas lights. Maybe it is because it is a special treat for us to see them since it is not a thing they do in Thailand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have always loved them, as a child looking out our car window I would admire them as my parents drove around town. It gave me something to enjoy during Michigan\u2019s dark and sometimes dreary winters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearby where we live there is a big beautiful tree all dressed up in lights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have different Christmas lights as I type this, they are the flashing lights of Chris\u2019 infusion pump in a dark hospital room.\u00a0 He gets knocked out by benadryl prior to starting a particular chemo.\u00a0 We turn off the lights and he just sleeps through it all. He wanted to have some fun today so he wore his Christmas Santa hat to stay warm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris starts a new chemo regimen today, TEDDI-R. We got a call on Friday evening saying that our insurance denied coverage of two of the chemo drugs needed for this week, this would total $17,000. This unexpected phone call was difficult and discouraging for us both, our hope and trust in the Lord is firm, but this journey is complicated\u2026reminding me of times when I have put the Christmas lights on the tree before plugging them in\u2026to realize they are toast and I must take them off, and go out and shop for new ones (not easy to do 10 years ago in Thailand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we understand it, Chris is the first patient to receive TEDDI-R treatment at Lemmen-Holton Cancer Center in Grand Rapids, therefore it is a bit of uncharted territory. Chris has always been one to try new innovative things to solve complex problems. Our nurse said she would be working on a \u201cwork around\u201d for this new challenge over the weekend. We asked several people to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praise God for the work around: While it wasn’t a simple process it appears that our insurance would approve these drugs if they are administered inpatient. <\/strong>Join us in trusting the Lord for this to be true and no surprise bills. While we thought this week would be outpatient, it will now be inpatient for the rest of the week. We will miss Chris at home each evening, but know that his treatment is the most important thing right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you God for the tireless efforts of our medical team, bless them so much they cannot deny your power and love for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We continue to thank so many of you who have written, given, prayed, and supported us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In our darkness, Christ is our Light. His light provides Hope in the darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our waiting, Christ is our Light. His light provides Peace in the waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each round of this new chemo plan Chris will have two lumbar punctures to both test the cerebral spinal fluid and inject chemo directly into his spine. Lord, protect and provide healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week and the next 10 days are so full for the kids with concerts, exams, parties, projects\u2026pray for their health and stamina and for us as parents as we support them. Lord, support and sustain us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have been told Chris’ counts will drop more with this chemo plan, we ask for prayers for protection from further illnesses. Again, Lord we ask for protection and healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, prayers for Emalene are appreciated as she wrestles with this sudden change, she is sad that Chris cannot be at her first violin concert on Wednesday. Lord, be her comfort, help us support her in this change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our family loves Christmas lights. Maybe it is because it is a special treat for us to see them since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":480,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions\/480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hirtfamily.net\/chris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prayer points<\/h4>\n\n\n\n