Today was a special day!  Bennett got his driver’s license TODAY!  He has waited patiently for 6 months since his 16th birthday in February for this day.  I know he is was really excited.  Him and Sid got to the driver’s license place one hour before they opened so he was sure to be the first in line and he was. Before they opened there were about 10 other kids waiting to get their driver’s license too. 

We pray God protects him and keeps him safe while driving!

Bennett’s monthly appt in St. Louis went well. He weighed 152. You can tell he is not playing any sports right now as he has put on 5 to 10 pounds which is really okay. He looks really good and healthy. He saw the main oncologist Dr. today and she said everything was good. She was pleased with his counts. He had the preventive breathing treatment and will have to continue that monthly until the end of the year.

We’re so blessed and thankful that he is continuing to do well and no hidden side effects have surfaced!    Thank you for your continued prayers of complete remission for Bennett!  Amen!

Bennett’s ANC is 2,300 from 2,352 a month ago.  His WBC went up to 4.6 from 4.2 but neutrophils went down to 50 from 57. Pretty close to being the same this time. His hemoglobin went up to 14.5 from 13.9 and platelets at 170 from 161.  It seems his platelets haven’t rebounded yet from all the chemo, that is in normal range but normally would be more in the 200′s.  The Dr. has said that it could take 6 months for his counts to come back.  Actually these are all really good and are in range but most people they the ANC and platelets are a little higher.

His monthly follow up St. Louis appt is this Tuesday. It will be one of the shortest appts he has ever had since he doesn’t have to have the infusion of immune globulin that usually takes 2 to 3 hours. He will have to have a check up to the Dr. and also the preventive breathing treatment so it will be a 2 to 3 hour appt.

He is doing good.  He started school last Thursday.  He’s not being doing to much, him and Lindy keep busy going places and mostly hanging out at home or with family which is nice.  Lindy started college about a week ago.  I think she has decided against playing basketball, her side has been bothering her.

Hamilton starts school tomorrow.  He is in 5th grade, starting “Jr. High”.    It’s unbelievable how mature he is and has grown an inch or two.  His football team played their first game yesterday at Vienna against Carterville, and we won!  Hamilton plays offense and defense and made a few catches and gained about 35 yards.  His first baseball game is tomorrow night, he missed the first game because of having the flu.  He has a busy week, 3 baseball games, 2 football practices, and two football games.   He really loves it!

We’re so thankful for all our blessings. We pray for all the children going through treatments or finished and pray that they are healed forever!

Hamilton PAGE #7

Amen!  Bennett had his port-a-cath removed today!  It was glorious day that we are so thankful for!  Bennett, Lindy, and I  left at 4:15 this morning and surgery was scheduled at 7:30 a.m.  Everything went well. He was sedated during the surgery, they made on small incision in his chest and pulled out the port.  His chest is sore but he’s doing Great!   He can’t take a shower for two days and no physical activity for a week.

We’re thanking God for this amazing ending to his long journey.  He was diagnosed on Feb. 20th, 2007 and had the port inserted two days later on Feb. 22, 2007  and began chemo the following day.    This port has been part of his body for 3 1/2 years and never had an infection in it or it never stopped working!  We’re so thankful! Bennett wanted it but hospital policy would not let him have it or see it.   He wanted to frame it or hang it from his rear view mirror in his truck! LOL

He is going to keep his wrist bands from the hospital. I told him that this better be his last hospital ID bands EVER! He has so many with all his procedures, surgeries and hospital stays so it’s such a miracle and blessing that today was the last one!

Bennett had a follow up Dr. appt yesterday with orthopedic about his elbow.  He confirmed the nerve study showed no nerve damage.  He said that an MRI wouldn’t show anything wrong since he did the nerve study.  He felt like it was extremely bruised.  He asked if we wanted to try a cortisone shot and see if that helped so we agreed and he got a shot in his elbow yesterday.  It was really sore and swollen last night.  This is supposed to help with any inflammation & is a one time thing.  He did want to see him again in a month so we will see how it is than.  With all the chemo his body has had, it may just take longer for this heal. We check counts this weekend and his monthly Stl clinic appt is next Tuesday.

Hamilton woke up Monday morning with the flu.  He ran a low grade fever, vomiting, and a severe headache.  He has stayed in bed the last two days.  He is feeling a little better today and has started eating a little this evening.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7

Bennett had a follow appt yesterday with the orthopedic Dr. in Mt. Vernon about his elbow.  He decided we would go ahead with the nerve study on Bennett’s arm and hand to see if a nerve is damaged.  They were able to get him in this afternoon to have the nerve study.  It was really neat and unbelievable of how they can detect the nerves.

They used like a tazer tool with two prongs on the end to shock Bennett’s nerves and than would record it on a computer with the electrode patches on his arm.  They also used a long needle into his skin to record the nerves in his muscles and did that several times in each arm.   He did good through the process.  He would jump at times because some of the shock was harder than others.  I was thankful the Dr. that did the study went ahead and told us that his nerves looked good, none of them have been damaged.  Amen!  I was afraid he may have to have surgery on a nerve but that doesn’t look like it will be needed!    The nerves could be really irritated so we will find out more when we see his main ortho Dr. on Monday. 

Bennett’s arm was really sore and especially his elbow was bothering him tonight.  When his elbow and surrounding area is touched, it bothers him.  This seems very strange and I’m not sure what are other options are.  We had been waiting 3 months to find out what’s wrong with it and so far we don’t know.  Please pray it will heal soon.

Things are giong Great!  Bennett is doing good an enjoying his last few weeks of summer.  School will start August 19th for him. He will be a sophomore.  He is anxiously waiting his license which he will get on Sept. 3rd.  He had to wait 9 months after getting his permit which he got on December 3rd.  He had thought the 9 months would be up in August but his going to have to wait another month.

We heard from St. Louis today and his IGG levels were good last week. They were a little low but not low enough to continue the infusion of immune globulin monthly.  His Dr. was good with his last infusion at his appt last week.  There was some confusion on getting his port a cath out and today his primary oncology Dr. agreed that it was okay to go ahead and take it out.

 Normally they like to wait for 6 months to make sure the leukemia will not return but his Dr. was okay of getting out before school.  This is good news!  This also means that when he has a fever, we will not have to run to the emergency room.  They won’t have to do cultures because that was to check for infection in the line in his port.  His surgery to remove the port will be August 17th.    It will take an hour to take out and is an outpatient surgery at SLCH.   We’re so thankful to be at this part of his recovery stage!

Lindy is doing well and feels a lot better. She is finishing her summer class at Rend Lake and will be starting fall classes soon.  She hopes to play basketball for the warriors when their season begins. 

Hamilton is doing great! His first football game is next Saturday at the St. Louis Rams game during half time.  The boys did this in January and really like the excitement of playing at the Edward Jones Dome.   They just had a BBQ fundraiser for this event & Hamilton sold the most tickets!  He sold 81 of them, he really worked at it and was excited to win! 

Hamilton will be in 5th grade!  He starts Aug. 23rd.   I can’t believe it, when Bennett’s journey began, Hamilton was only in 1st grade. they both have changed so much and have grown into young boys and young men. Hamilton now is almost 5’0 and weighs 95 pounds.  He doesn’t have that boyish face anymore it’s hard to believe how quick they grow up.   The boys continue to be best friends and love to do things together (when their not fighting – LOL).

Hope all is well with you and your family!

Bennett’s appt. went well yesterday.   He finished his last infusion of the immune globulin, she checked his levels yesterday and unless they were really low she thought she would stop the infusion.  We didn’t get those levels before we left so we are unsure of how they were.  He had the breathing treatment and he has 5 more months of continuing with that.   She indicated that he could start weaning off the gabapentin pills that he takes twice a day that is supposed to help with the side effects from the chemo vincristine so he should be finished with taking those in about 2 weeks.

His Dr. indicated that we would need to continue checking his counts by CBC testing but she did not want the CMP which is the complete metabolic panel.  She thought we would continue our monthly Dr. examinations for a year and than we would go every other month for six months and than continue to taper off.  She asked how he felt not taking any chemo and Bennett indicated no changes and I would agree. We haven’t seen any energy changes yet and he felt so good the last few months that he feels the same.

The Dr. said that no she was not going to do a bone marrow biopsy. She said they only do that if they see any changes or reasons that would indicate that the leukemia was in the bone marrow, she does not except that with Bennett so no need to check!  Really good news!  Amen!

We’re so thankful for a good report and that Bennett is doing so well!

Bennett’s ANC is 2,352 from 1,224 a month ago.  His WBC were 4.2 from 1.8 with 3 weeks of no chemo pills.  His neturophils were 56 from 65.  Hemoglobin is 13.9  from 12.5 which is normal range and platelets are 161 from 174.  His liver levels were the lowest in a very long time and in normal range.  The kidney level which is the bun/creat was high at 15.71 from 18.57 a month ago so hopefully it will continue to go down.

He said his elbow was really bothering him on Saturday and he took some tylenol to help relieve it.  He says it always bothers him but was painful that day.  He has been feeling well other than that.

Hamilton’s summer baseball team ended their season this weekend, we lost in the region tourney.

We have a few questions to ask Bennett’ s Dr. on Tuesday on how low he will take a few side effects pills. Also, at one time I thought they said they would do a bone marrow biospy when he completed treatment but nothing has been said recently.

Thank you for all your prayers.   May God bless Bennett with remission forever and that he won’t have any side effects problems from all the chemo he has taken.

We have had so many children that we have met in the last 3 1/2 years.  Some are still fighting their disease, some are finished and are healthy and others won the fight and our angels in heaven.  I have been thinking about lately about all the friends and their families especially those children that are angels in God’s glorious raptures.  I want to extend a prayer to all the families that have lost their precious child to such a horrible disease and they didn’t have any control of the outcome.  May God strenghten these families and may their lives and testimony bring us all closer to the Lord Jesus.

  I could name numbers, and I could name names and they would add up to tens, to twenties, and thirty children that are now God’s angels that we have seen or known from SLCH.   I ask that every parent will appreciate their children Today and for Who they Are because tomorrow may never come.   Just think or pray before you get mad, disappointed, aggravated or yell at your child or any child;  because in a matter of seconds YOU could be faced with a life threatening situation and there is no turning back your actions or words….

“Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ in Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

Bennett is doing Great!  His energy level seems about the same.  It probably will take awhile for his counts to normalize and his body not to have any traces of chemo in it.  Or he could be just having a lazy summer which he really needs.    He goes to weight lifting 3 days a week. 

 He is taking about 4 pills twice a day which are for side effects and calcium, vitamin C, and milk thistle supplements.     I started him on milk thistle twice a day which is a herbal supplement that supports a healthy liver.   He had so many high liver levels through out the years that I figured it couldn’t hurt.  His Dr. wanted him to wait to start taking until after treatment.

He went to the orthopedic Dr. last week for his elbow.  Dr. wanted to give him a cortisone shot but after realizing he was a leukemia patient, he decided he would wait.  He is supposed to go back in a month and he may give him the shot than and also do a nerve study if his elbow is still bothering him.  It’s not a nagging pain but it’s still there, sometimes better than others.

Lindy is doing well after her gall bladder surgery three weeks ago.  She is able not to eat more foods but is still watching what she eats.  Her and Bennett are into playing mario which is probably good since it’s so hot outside.

Hamilton is doing great.  He has had his cast off a  month last Friday and had a follow up appt with the orthopendic Dr. in St. Louis.  She x-rayed his leg again and it looked great. You barely now can even see the scar tissue of where he broke it.  He finishes his sixth week of therapy next week.  We don’t expect he will need anymore. He has come along way in just the last week or so.  He was limping but that has improved.  He has been playing baseball and football for about 3 weeks.  

We will check Bennett’s counts this weekend and his first “no chemo” appt is Tuesday.  Many people have asked, how does it feel with him not taking chemo anymore?   Honestly “scary” but I try not to think about it and just pray everyday that God will bless Bennett with keeeping him in remission forever!

“Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  Mark 4:39