March 16th update
Bennett had a rough day. He didn’t feel very good and was in quite a bit of pain. His Dr. has given him pain medicine to take 3 times a day to help with jaw pain and leg pain. He is having some other pain that the Dr. prescribed him some ointment and an antibiotic so infection doesn’t set in. He received his two chemo treatments today that make him really nausea and tired. The Dr. has indicated the more chemo treatments you have, the worse you can feel because your body is being transfused with chemo drugs that are very strong and poisonous. That’s why chemo kills the good cells because it has to kill the bad leukemia cells.
His blood counts dropped today. His red blood cell count is 8.7 and they transfuse at 7.0 or less. Platelets didn’t drop much from a 62 to 53. Platelets transfusions are given if they are at 10 or less. Normal platelets count is 150-450. His white blood cells are at 0.7 dropping from 1.2. Normal white blood cells count is 5.0-10.0. His A.N.C. (Absolute Neutrophil count) was 567 today. When his A.N.C. drops less than 500 (Neutropenia), this means a significant risk of developing a serious infection. If he develops a fever or signs of infection, he will be hospitalized. Neutropenia tells us that Bennett can’t fight infection and fever tells us infection may be present. A normal A.N.C. is greater than 1,500. An A.N.C. between 500-1,000 means some risk of developing a serious infection. It is normal for the A.N.C. to drop while on chemotherapy. Currently he doesn’t have a fever – Yeah! but his A.N.C. is getting to close to being less than 500 which means he must be extra cautious in not getting any type of infection.
When Bennett was diagnosed with Leukemia on 2/20/07, his red blood cells were at 4.1. Red blood cells that contain an iron protein called Hemoglobin which picks up oxygen in the lungs and carries it to the body tissues. His was very low, he was anemia. He had the signs of anemia by looking pale, lack of energy, and felt tired/weak. His white blood cells were low at 4.1 and A.N.C. was 779. Platelets count were low at 41, normal range is 150-450.
I hope this information helped about his counts. This helped me cope with the diagnosis when I understood more about what it all meant. If you have any specific questions about this, you can put them under the questions tab and I will try to answer them.
Thanks to everyone’s prayers, cards, and gifts. Please keep praying for Bennett as we are at the beginning stage of a long road ahead.
Here is a picture of Bennett taking one of his chemo drugs. He played Xbox in the clinic while he had to wait for it to transfuse.
Cindy
So glad you got to come home! Sure pray that you are better soon. God will give you strength when you need it and ask for it. I am sorry for all of the suffering you are going through right now. Love you.
Hey Bennett! So sorry u r not feeling well. I am glad u got to come home. I printed some pictures I thought u might like to have. Even some mohawk pictures! lol I sure hope u get 2 feelin better soon! I will put the pictures in your mailbox when we go to Nan and Pa’s for lunch tomorrow.
kool, thanks Brock, I’m sure Bennett will enjoy them! He put on your bracelet the same day you dropped it off and hasn’t taken it off since!
you’re awfully sweet!
Dear Bennett,
Think of you often and we pray for you daily, keep your strength up and allow God to help you along the way. We check your website often, if there is anything at all we can do for you and your family, please let us know.
Mike, Lori, Bill, Alexis
Hey, Hey, Hey-
Waz up Bennett? I hope everthings fine!!! I hope you will be on feet again (soon)!
Desiree’ Casey
Hi Bennett,
I’m your Mom’s high school friend and met you at a football game that was also a part of your Mom’s high school reunion. It was fun meeting you and your brother that night, especially because Cindy and I were joking about all the goofy things we did as kids when we were about your age. (You weren’t too interested in the stories though.)
And that gave us an even bigger kick!
I will pray that your day goes well tomorrow. That’s something that I’m trying to do more often, pray every day. It seems that with my new job, I have lots of frustrations, and the days that I pray to get everything done that I need to get done, God helps me through and those days go better than usual. It’s starting to occur to me that I should pray for God’s help every day – the big things and the little things, to rely on God on all things and constantly. So tonight I’m going to pray that tomorrow God will help you get through what you need to and that you will feel stronger and better.
Enjoyed seeing your site!
Greetings from Northwest Indiana,
Dea
Cindy,
We understand Bennett can’t really be around too many people right now, with the risk factors involved etc. But Kyle & Thomas were SOOOO excited to get to see him for just a couple of minutes. They really miss Bennett A LOT!!! I thought his color looked a little better today. Hope Hambone liked his brownies. I’m taking request’s for next Sunday’s menu. LOL Just let me know and tell Sid I ‘ve already got desert figured out. ha ha
Call if you need/want anything. We hope Bennett gets to feeling better. He was in really good spirits today. Keep it up Bennett! God is on your side buddy.
All our love & prayers,
Kevin, Tammi, Kyle & Lauren
Hey Bennett, I am glad everything went well sorry I didn’t get to come visit you this weekend. You are still in my prayers, I hope you stay good and healthy. Well I will talk to you later.
Brock, Bennett really liked the pics and so did I! Thank you so much, it made his day! We liked the leukemia pins too. Where did you get these and the bracelets from?
Thanks bunches
Bennett,
Did you get to see the Dawgs play today? Wasn’t that awesome? Maybe Matt Shaw will get to play on Thursday. We have you in our thoughts and prayers every minute. Take care.
Matt, Trudee, Bailey & G-Man
Dea, I was glad you got to meet Bennett, he is a very special boy and is turning into a young man. I appreciate your message and you are right, we must pray everyday. We are learning to pray for the very littlest things that we used to take for granted. Take Care.
Cindy,
It is amazing how humbling this disease is! The things that you thought were “really important” suddenly take a back seat to the things that REALLY are important. Your priority list takes on a radical change during this time and you begin to wonder why you thought some things were that important. Your kids will always be the most important thing in your life, as they should be, Bennett is very lucky to have parents like you. Tell him to keep up the good work and to seek out Sara as an inspiration in his recovery, she truly is an “angel amongst us”!!
Best wishes,
Terry, Kristi, Shelly and Sara
Tammi, you are so sweet and are quite the cook! Hamilton loved the brownies and between everyone eating them, there is no more left! Thanks for everything!
Kristi, Yes we use Sara as an example that cancer can be beaten, you just have to fight and be very strong! I appreciate your support. It is very comforting to know that you all have been through this long battle and survived. Thank you!
hey bennett!you dont kno me but everybody that knows is praying for you.so am i.so is my friend nikita.hope you get to come back to school soon!!
GOOD LUCK IN THE FUTURE!