Amos Ross Updates

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for praying this past week and for being patient as we’ve let more than a week go by without an update! We’ve had a very full week and there has been the expected mix of hard and good things all thrown in together. I’ll give you a bit of a recap since our last update…

Luke did finally come home after 10 days of being quarantined at Gigi and Grandpa’s. We are very thankful to report that Luke’s sickness was contained and neither Amos, Mommy, or Daddy got sick. Hooray!!! (Although Gigi and Grandpa were not spared.) That definitely made the days apart worth it, though still hard, since Amos cannot risk being sick during chemo. After Luke came home last Saturday, we enjoyed two short days of all being together before Amos was back in the hospital for round two of chemo. It was so fun to see the boys together – and so good to see Amos motivated to keep up with Luke! Zazzy and Grandpop (Will’s parents) were also here to help through this week of chemo for Amos. It’s been great to have them here and to have two extra sets of hands to help out at the hospital and at home!

We didn’t quite know what to expect for round two of chemo but we were so thankful to see Amos managing things well from the start. He arrived at CHOC eager to press the buttons on the elevator and he literally sprinted (with a hand holding assist) onto the 5th floor, eager to show off to anyone in sight. He was in the hospital Tuesday through late Friday night. Aside from some tummy troubles and evident fatigue, he did well and has made it home as of Friday night in much better shape than last time. No infections or fevers! Praise God!! We are immensely thankful to still be at home all together – under one roof! – even as I write this.

Over this next week, Amos’ white blood cell counts will drop to their lowest and he will be susceptible to infections, fever, and thus hospitalization. We feel like we know more of what to expect should any/all of those things happen and we are praising the Lord for this time at home, however long it lasts. We are encouraged even though things can change from minute to minute that Amos seems stronger and in better spirits than these past weeks. Since coming home, he’s been amazingly active and mostly willing to cooperate with taking trips to the mailbox, working on therapy tasks, and resting. One of the things we put together to motivate him is a sticker chart for Amos. With food being taken out of the mix, it’s hard to bribe a toddler! So since Amos LOVES stickers, we are working with what we’ve got! One of the categories for a sticker each day is his “school” category, which is mostly just an excuse to work on speech. He’s done so well and we thought you’d enjoy this video. He is making wonderful progress with his mouth (and tongue) movement!

Amos also wanted to dress up in his puppy costume with Luke. We missed Halloween during round one, so we made up for it this weekend 🙂 I am still shocked that the boys cooperated and sat still long enough for a picture together! We love these little guys so SO much.

This week, please pray as Will leaves for a conference in Atlanta. He’ll be gone all week so I’ll have reinforcements from Gigi and Grandpa and my dear childhood friend, Emily, who lives in Seattle and is coming to stay with me. Please pray for Will as he presents three papers and has many, many meetings. Pray for his time to be fruitful and that he would be able to focus rather than worry about us here at home. Please pray that Amos would remain healthy and that if a hospital stay arises, that it would be brief and that we would not be discouraged.

Please continue to pray for the chemotherapy to be completely effective and for Amos to be permanently cancer free. Pray that Amos will be motivated to work hard to regain his speech, walking, and swallowing abilities. Please pray that we would trust the Lord to carry us all through this storm, but especially Amos. May the Lord guard and protect his heart from doubts and fears and may he know simple childhood joys even still.

Thank you for supporting us with prayers, cards, emails, phone calls, and thoughtful gifts. They mean SO much even if we never say thank you!