Goodbye Vader-mask

Dear Friends,

Coltrane has had a wonderful night and day.  This morning, the doctors took off the vader-mask and let Coltrane try a CPAP nasal cannula.  He has been off the mask for 5 hours and is still holding strong.  We will continue to assess him and hopefully will be able to begin weaning him from that soon.  We are finally able to see Coltrane's beautiful face.

Besides the breathing issues, Coltrane's recovery is going very well.  He is needing pain medicine less often and his vitals have stayed good.  Once he gets the CPAP off, he has been given permission to eat again.  

Today, I got news from the oncologist that the pathology from the resected tumor was "impressive".  It is showing dead tissue.  The oncologist wants to take this information before a board of doctors and will give us more information about the radiation that is to come.  

As you can see, God is working in Coltrane.  Your prayers have held us up during these few days of ups and downs.  We so appreciate your intercession for us and we want to continue to ask you for your prayers.  Please pray for Coltrane to feel well physically and emotionally.  Please pray for the rest of our family as we are separated during our stay in ICU and pray for a successful wean from the CPAP.  We appreciate and love you all.

"The Lord  your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you...you will see how the Lord your God will carry you, as a man carries his child..." (Deut. 1:30-31)

Love, 

Sonja, Justin, Jackson, and Coltrane the Warrior

Prayers for Coltrane

We would like to ask for prayers for Coltrane.  The doctors are planning to try to remove his ventilator tube.  Please pray that he won't have any problems coming off of it.  And pray that his diaphragm will be working perfectly.  Pray for wisdom for doctors and nurses.  And pray for our family as we're dealing with a lot of stress.  Thank you so much for your support.  We need it very much.  Thank you for interceding for us. 

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Victor!

Slow and steady

Hello everyone,

Coltrane is doing very well.  His recovery is remarkable.  All the nurses and doctors are very astonished at how well he is doing.  His only kidney is taking up the slack easily.  One of his chest tubes was removed today and I think they will remove his ventilator so he can fully breathe on his own.  Coltrane is mostly sleeping but does wake once in a while.  Yesterday, he was having quite some pain so we had to manage that.  It's a big balancing act with his meds/weening and such.  Coltrane really loves to hear us sing to him and loves to reach for us.  It was pretty hard for us because we couldn't do anything.  I wanted to rescue him away but I was helpless.  There's not much worse than not being able to protect your child.  Especially using your own will to resist.  Sounds like what God had to do with his son.  I couldn't imagine watching and letting my son get tortured and mocked and spat on while resisting the strong urge to rescue my son and defeat his persecutors.  Of course, he was letting all that happen to his son for those exact people.  It's so amazing to realize God's character and think about his love and plan while you're going through these times of trials.  Faith, trust, and selflessness is key.  Selflessness because I have to really try hard not to focus on MY pain and trouble, and put my trust in God's hands and his plan.  I'm so happy to know that God isn't flighty.  He is true, strong, and never changes like shifting shadows.  What awesome imagery.  And the love and mercy he gives us is incredible.  I doubt I will ever know how exactly he is working with us, but I trust that it is awesome, because HE IS AWESOME.

Please pray for strength for our family,

for Coltrane's recovery (no more ventilator, drains out, pain managed)

for increase in our faith and trust in the Lord Almighty.

for no stress/anxiety about work 

And thanking God for 

Coltrane being so strong during the surgery/recovery

NO more visible cancer in his body

God giving the doctors wisdom to take even more organs/parts of organs than they thought

God's peace about what's going on in our lives

A flexible job for me

People praying for us all the time

People giving so generously of their time/finances to help us out

A wonderful church that supports their family

Me being able to be here for my family

for a great God who loves us unconditionally.

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jack,

and Coltrane the Uplifited

P.S. 

What great news we received today!  We just heard from our head Oncologist that there is NO cancer left in his bone marrow!  Praise God for this incredible news!  Yay!  I'm not surprised.  I'm surprised (based on Mark 9:24).  This is most encouraging.

Love,

Justin

Post Surgery

Dear friends,

Coltrane is out of surgery and in ICU. The surgeon spoke to us and informed us that he had to take out one of his kidneys, about 10% of his liver, some of his diaphragm, and his appendix (preemptive reasons), Coltrane lost quite a bit of blood (1000cc's), but was constantly being replenished with new blood. The surgeon removed ALL visible tumor. The only bits left would be microscopic. G-tube placement and bone marrow biopsy went well. The surgeon said Coltrane's vitals stayed constant and strong throughout the whole process! He is on a ventilator and is sleeping soundly.

We are overwhelmed with everything, but we are so happy for this report. We are confident in that we prayed for wisdom for the doctors and surgeons and they were led to take more than they thought. God knows best. We are thankful and we are so blessed to have all you praying for us.

Please pray for Coltrane's full recovery, our family, for Jack to be strong and not worry about his little brother and for us to trust the Lord with all of our soul, mind, body, and spirit.

Love,Justin,
Sonja,
Jack,
and Coltrane the Tenacious

Coltrane's Surgery

Hello everyone and all,

We are at St. Francis Children's Hospital (The Panda Bear Hospital).  Everyone is doing very well.  I couldn't ask for a more healthy boy to go into surgery.  What a blessing that is.  He is scheduled to have the surgery at 7:15am tomorrow, Wednesday.  The surgery will last around eight hours.  8 hours!  I'm glad they're taking their time.  ;)  The doctors will be trying to get as much tumor mass out of his body as possible.  This might involve removing his kidney as the tumor is wrapped up around it pretty good.  They plan to insert a G-Tube during this time.  They will also be taking some biopsies of his bone marrow to see the involvement of cancer there.  It will be a long day, but we are confident of our Lord's perfect will.  We will be trusting and praying for trust and faith in this waiting game.  

We had a great experience I feel led to share.  We asked the elders of the church to come and pray for our son and our family.  Some elders took off time in their evening to come over and pray for us and encourage us.  What an uplifting experience.  We are called and led to do this: " Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."  James 5 13-16.  

This was such a comforting experience and we want to thank the elders for being humble servants of the Lord and for praying for us in this time of many trials.  The Lord is with us.  And we want to encourage others to do the same.  It was so beneficial and we appreciate it very much.  

We have great support with us, and we have such a great supportive prayer team it is simply ridiculous.  Incredible!  We are excited for everything that's going on.  

Please pray for Sonja and I to bond even more as a married couple through this hardship

Pray for Coltrane's healing and that he will keep his kidneys and they will get every little bit of cancer that's in his body.  Pray for his speedy recovery.

Pray for Jackson to be in a healthy state and be comforted for the couple nights he will be away from us due to Coltrane being in ICU after surgery.  

Pray for the doctors and their minds/hands, and for their complete wisdom and choices they will have to make.  

Pray for all of those being affected by Coltrane's story.  

Most importantly, please pray that Coltrane's story will be used to completely glorify God and His goodness, mercy, and love toward us and that it will be used to lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus.  And how God can use every one of us through our trials and tribulations for His plan and glory.  

Pray for Sonja and I to have more faith and trust in God.  To help us focus on what His plan is and how we can be good stewards of this great opportunity.

Praise be to God our Father and Creator who blesses us and is our Redeemer and who sent His beautiful Son to die for our own Salvation.  I am humbled and happy to be a part of His great plan of Mastery and Genius.  

2 Timothy 1:7  "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Zechariah 4:6  "So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."

Love,

Justin,

Sonja, 

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Strong

Upcoming Surgery

Dear friends,

An update on Coltrane.  First of all, he is doing so wonderfully.  You really can't tell at all that he has cancer except for his lack of hair.  :)  He is energetic and knows exactly what he wants and what he doesn't want.  He is very feisty which will be great for all of his treatment.  

Coltrane is scheduled for surgery (removing as much tumor as possible) on his abdomen on October 22 in Tulsa.  He will be put under of course.  The doctors will perform the surgery and place a "G-Tube" in his abdomen.  This will make it possible for us to feed him through the tube so he doesn't get too weak.  The surgery will take around eight hours or so.  They are warning us of possibly having to remove a kidney.  This depends on how much the cancer has wrapped around it.  

We have been home so long (3 weeks?) that it's just starting to hit me on how huge this surgery is.  It's hard not to worry.  I heard once that worrying is a mild form of atheism.  What a statement.  It's nice that I don't have to worry.  Worrying is a choice.  I am not choosing to worry.  I will remember that God has a plan, and the He loves my boy so much greater than I.  Hard to imagine, but not really thinking of what God has done for us through his own son.  I will trust in my Savior for He alone is my deliverer.

Please pray for Coltrane's surgery.  Please pray for no loss of kidney.  Pray that the doctors will perform with miraculous skill and that they will recognize and honor God alone for their performance.  Pray that Coltrane recovers so well.  And please pray for my family as this is so hard to deal with.  Thank you for your support and we love you all so very much!

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Remarkable and Rakish

We also have a great opportunity this month. Throughout the month of October we will be matching all donations given (up to $2,000).