I can’t believe Spring is already here, the first day of spring on March 21st. Bennett was feeling better today and we had an idea. Let’s go feed the ducks at Lake Benton. The boys and I do this once a year or so for something fun/different to do. So we waited for Hamilton to get out of school, bought some bread and went to feed the ducks. The ducks enjoyed it and so did we! It was so nice to be outside with my favorite 2 boys!

Bennett has been up and down this weekend. He felt real bad Friday and Saturday. Sunday he felt some better and now today he doesn’t feel well. His stomach is really bothering him. He has been in bed all day. He has zofran that he can take every 6 hours as needed for upset stomach and nausea which he has taken today. He has ate very little. He thought Subway sounded good, but he only ate a couple of bites of his sandwich.

Our next doctor appointment is Friday which will be a blood test, bone marrow, spinal tap and prevention chemo in the spine. These tests will tell us if the chemo so far is working by killing the blast cells. Also if he still has blasts he may need radiation treatment. No matter what the bone marrow tests shows, he will still be on the next phase of treatment which includes several more chemo drugs. They are looking at the bone marrow to see how many blasts cells he has. The first bone marrow on Feb. 22nd, he had 95% blasts. The last bone marrow test on March 2nd, he had 2%. We need 0% on the Friday test .

Please keep lifting Bennett up in your prayers, God is in control!

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

Bennett had a pretty good day.  Seemed to have a little more energy. He was able to get up and take a shower today for the first time in about 2 weeks.  He moved around from room to room in the house. before he would stay in bed.  He’s legs were really bothering him today though. He had leg cramps and pain in them as it hurt for him to walk.  I thought I was going to have to carry him on my back!  Wouldn’t a piggy back ride be a funny sight!

We go to SLCH on Friday for another chemo treatment and blood test.

Thanks  to everyone’s uplifting prayers and support!

Cindy

Our prayers were answered again with a good doctors appointment today at SLCH. Bennett had no temperature. He has lost 3 more pounds in a week. His color is good today and his spirits were high! I think he knows if he feels good, that we will eat good and try to do something fun! If you know Bennett, he is quite the shopper! This was a blessing as the last couple of days and night, he hasn’t felt good at all.

His blood cell counts were good today too, no transfusion needed. His counts were up a little from even Friday. Which we expected them to be down further. Dr. indicated that his bone marrow is making the good cells (WBC, RBC, and platelets) so these counts were up slightly. The chemo medicine will still kill off these good cells and the cancer cells. His count good be up or down the next time we go.

We go back to SLCH on Friday for another Dr. appt. to do a blood test and get another chemo treatment.

Thanks to everyone’s prayers; God is lifting Bennett up!

Below is a picture of Bennett waiting for the Dr. to come in and a picture of him at the St Louis Galleria Mall. This was Bennett’s first visit to the mall. We didn’t stay long as he became pretty tired. It was good for him to get out of bedroom.

I didn’t know we had a Dr. in the house until last night. Hamilton played as a Dr. giving his Dad a bone marrow test, the funny part is that he was giving him a shot in his head! He was cute! He wanted this Dr. outfit from the gift shop at the hospital so he could wear it and take care of Bennett.

Before Feb. 20th, I couldn’t tell you what type of cells and what they did in each of our bodies. It’s been too long since health class! I found this on internet and thought it was very helpful in explaining the different cells in our blood and why Bennett would need blood transfusions if his red cells and platelets counts were low. Plus the definition of what the white cells do. He has very little of these and soon will have none because of the chemo killing these cells and you cannot transfuse white cells.  cindy

Red blood cells (also called erythrocytes) carry oxygen from the lungs to all the cells in the body and take carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be exhaled. The red blood cells represent the most volume, making up 40-45 percent of one’s blood. They are shaped like tiny doughnuts, with an indentation in the center instead of a hole. They contain a special molecule called hemoglobin, which contains four iron atoms, and each iron atom can bind with one molecule of oxygen, allowing each hemoglobin molecule to carry four molecules of oxygen. In the capillaries, where there is little oxygen, the hemoglobin readily sheds the oxygen it is carrying and allows it to be absorbed by the body’s cells. The iron in hemoglobin is what makes blood red.

White blood cells (leukocytes) help the body fight infections and diseases. White blood cells “digest” harmful viruses and bacteria, such as those entering the body through a cut or a scrape, or developed in an ear infection or the flu. There are three types of white blood cell: granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes. Granulocytes contain granules, which hold digestive enzymes and can kill invading bacteria and parasites. Lymphocytes help coordinate the body’s immune system. They produce antibodies — the immune proteins, which help remove foreign substances and invading organisms — and invade cells in the body that are infected with viruses. Monocytes, the largest kind of white blood cells, enter the tissues of the body and turn into even larger cells called macrophages. These eat foreign bacteria and destroy damaged, old, and dead cells of the body itself. This scavenging function clears the way for tissue healing and repair.

Platelets (thrombocytes) help blood to clot. They are tiny, colorless, irregularly shaped, cell fragments from large bone marrow cells. In their “resting” state, platelets look like two plates stuck together (hence the name). When they are “activated” to help form a clot, they change shape and look like tiny round blobs with tentacles. When bleeding occurs, platelets clump together and release a substance, which starts a chain of chemical events, called “coagulation cascade.” It produces long protein threads, which help create fibrin, which in turn helps form the clot over the wound.

All of our prayers were answered today. Bennett had his blood test today and his counts are dropping more. This is expected because the chemo kills the leukemia cells but also kills the good cells. The White cell count dropped even more which means he has very few of these cells to fight off infection. His red cells and platelets were lower today too but not to low for a blood transfusion. We expect next week he may have to have a blood transfusion if these continue to drop at the same pace. We found out today that if he needs a blood transfusion that it is an outpatient treatment in the clinic and will take 2 to 3 hours.

They accessed his port today to take the blood test and to give him 2 chemo treatments. He was nervous of it hurting. And he said it really didn’t. Thank God!

He also had a urine test today to make sure he did not have glucose (sugar) in his system and it came back normal. Yeah!

We were at the hospital from 9:00 to 1:30. Bennett did have Fun on the way home by stopping by a paint ball store.

He is feeling some nausea but all and all is doing pretty good this evening. He takes about 5 medicines twice a day at home and about 4 more if needed.

Next step: Tuesday he has a dr appt in St Louis leaving home at 6:30 a.m. for a blood test and a check up. And Friday will leave home at 7:00 for another check up, blood test and 2 more chemo treatments.

Please continue to pray that the treatments go well and that Bennett doesn’t get infection. If he spikes a fever, he will be admitted into the STCH. We pray that the chemo doesn’t give him mouth sores or causes other severe pain.

I know God was with us today and everybody that loves us! Thanks so much, as we appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

Cindy

My story

it was feb the 19 my b-day was the next day so me and my family went to go eat at buffalo wild wings. on our way back we stopped at menards in marion and i did not wont to go in but my mom made me because i think i had the flu and i was
lazy from laying around. so my mom said I need to go to the doctor and i sad ya i need to go tommorow , its my b-day and we will go to the doctor and go out to eat for my b-day. so that night i felt better and went to the high school basketball game with my dad and hamilton. my mom was sick. it really was a good game.

so the next day was feb the 20, me and kaitlin hurleys bday. so me and my mom took my brother to school and called my doctor. we went to the bank (my moms work) . so it is 9:30 and my doctor sent us to the hospital and they wanted me to get a blood test. We waited at the Marion hospital until my doctor called and said I needed to get a bone marrow test.

so me and my mom were in a hurry to st louis hospital so now it is 3′oclock and we are in the emergency room so time was flying by and its 5′oclock. one of the doctors there i have seen just in the emergency room but she is still a doctor on my floor she came in and told me and my mom that i might have leukemia. i took the news hard but i was strong and i did
not cry but my mom got a little teary eyed but i held her hand and i said we are going to beat this so it is now 8′oclock and I was admitted to 9 west floor from the emergency room.

I was starved, they had a pizza hut and I got a pizza. I was given several blood transfusions to increase my red blood cells and platelets count.

now it is feb 21 and i was going to get a bone marrow test and my dad got there before they did it and he said with tears you have a lot of friends behind you so i walked down and they put me a sleep and i got up and got the news i had 95% blast in my bone marrow and I have ALL High Risk Leukemia. I also got a chest x-ray today and it came back good.

so now it is the day feb the 22 and i got my port in my chest and they gave me a spinal test and gave me kemo thru a spinal tap (chemo in the spine). i was a sleep for this too. Along with a ekg and echo test for the heart.

now it is feb 23, i received my first chemo treatment through an iv along with several other medications. I felt funny.

on the day of feb 27, i received three shots in my leg muscles at the same time. the shots didn’t really hurt but my legs felt weird for several hours.

During the time being, i liked all the people who came to see me and all the cards and gifts people had gotten me and my hospital room looked like home.

now its mar the 2, I got more blood transfusions and it is time for another bone marrow and spinal tap so i went to sleep and they did the test. I also got more chemo this day through an iv. when I woke up from the bone marrow test and they told me i had 2% blast so it is 3′oclock and they say we can go home. my dad was there and we went into subway to get sandwiches to go. I ate in the car and by the time we got to Mt Vernon, I was hungry for mcdonalds on the way home.

now it is mar the 6 and i had to go to the doctor for a check up. me and
my mom went to eat at chillis. it was good.

its mar the 7 at salon 34 and the news was there so we did some stuff.

now it is mar the 8 9:25 pm. im writing this because im going thru a hard time today. one of my friends that is 21, came to my house today her name is mackenzie clark. we were talking and it was fun. she gave me some tips. that is all we did for 2 hours. we know a lot of stuff. mackennzie has the same cancer (ALL leukemia) she has had it since Sept 2005 and she has been a trooper . it feels good too know you can beat this. me and mackenzie are battling this together.

thxs for all our support every one! i like everything everybody has gotten me, whether it was money, to food, to homework, and stuff. it does not matter. Anything i get makes me feel better.

tomorrow I go back to st louis to receive another blood test and another round of chemo through an iv.

Bennett Page

Thanks Mackenzie for stopping today to see Bennett and me to lend your support. It’s weird and neat that you have the same type of leukemia. You were so helpful. You have so much knowledge that we will use to help us through this battle. I hope we can help you! You are a tough young lady! We just officially met you but you are already very special to us!

Love Cindy and Bennett