We saw Dr. Shenoy today and she ran an electrolytes test and it came back good, he was not dehydrated.  He lost 5 more  pounds since last week, he weighs 101 and he is 5′ 6″ 1/2 inches tall. She hopes his appetite was coming back since he ate some yesterday.  The Dr. didn’t want to start him on any food intake by IV. She said this could cause infection and with his ANC so low she didn’t want to do that unless she had to.

Dr Shenoy will be on vacation for the next 2 1/2 weeks so we will see a different Dr.

His ANC has dropped again to 136. She doesn’t know why unless the Septra that he took this past weekend.  She encouraged him to  eat and drink as much as he can.

He goes Monday to get a blood test to check his ANC and other counts. Now, we are just waiting for his ANC to reach 750 to begin the next phase of treatment.

Bennett thought Golden Corral sounded good for lunch. He thought their pizza tasted good. He threw it up in his plate. We left.  He kept on sneezing and I bet sneezed for about 10 minutes.

He felt like going to Hamilton’s baseball game and he kept score for most of it. He went for a motorcycle ride with his uncle Ronnie and loved it. He ate a few bites of cheese bread and chicken cavatinni for dinner.

His weakness and tiredness seemed to improve some today.

“Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57

Bennett felt maybe just a little better today. He ate a little more. A few bites of chicken fried steak, one chicken fry, a piece of banana bread and an egg. He kept the food down.

He sat up in a chair today watching TV at his Grandpa/ma Page’s.

He didn’t feel like doing anything. Hamilton and I went to see Shrek Third tonight and he didn’t want to go.

The medicine Septra that the Dr. ordered for Bennett not to take the next dosage is an antibiotic to prevent pneumocystis pneumonia. He has been taking this since he was diagnosed and will continue to take for the next three years. He takes 1 1/2 pills twice a day for three days a week. Septra can possibly cause your blood counts to drop when it is given at the same time as some chemotherapy drugs. Dr. is hoping his ANC will go up if he doesn’t take his regular dosage this week which is Sat. Sun. and Monday.

We will be leaving around 8 in the morning for his appt.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:12a, 13

Bennett has felt the same today. Very tired and weak. He did feel like watching some TV around 11:30 but didn’t want anything to eat. He did have a popsicle.

He didn’t feel like taking his anti-nausea medicine.He threw up once today just from the smell of something that made him sick to his stomach.

Later in the afternoon, he did eat 3/4 of a hash brown.

I spoke to the St Louis nurse today. I told her that I thought Bennett had about another week and he would be in the hospital like he was before. Dr. Shenoy wants to see him on Thursday. She will check his counts and decide what to do. She had already decided to stop his next dosage of Septra pills that he takes Sat. Sun and Monday twice a day. Sometimes this medicine can cause your WBC count to stay low. She wants to see if stopping this med this weekend will help his WBC and ANC.

Bennett is playing on the computer laying in his bed. He is looking at fireworks to purchase. He hopes to be able to go this weekend with his Dad to Boom land.

Bennett ate another hash brown. On my way home from Hamilton’s all star practice, Bennett asked me to get him some banana bread. He ate a piece of it with butter and said it was delicious!

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. (Psalm 94:18-19)

We finally heard from the St Louis nurse at 3:30 from the CBC test that we did early morning.  His ANC has dropped to 180. He will not be having the chemo treatment this week that will hospitalize him for 4 days.  Possibly next Tuesday if his ANC goes up to 750.   His other counts were OK, not needing a transfusion.

He is neutropenia which is ANC below 500; a significant risk of developing an infection and not being able to fight it off. Especially when it lasts longer than 5 days.

He has  been very tired and weak today.  He tried to eat some watermelon and threw it up.

Late this afternoon, he thought chicken fingers sounded good. He ate 1/2 one and threw it up too.

The nurse said with his ANC being low, this can make him pretty tired.

She said he needs to take the anti-nausea around the clock every 6 hours for 3 days. That taking it here and there isn’t really going to help as much.  Now, the trick will be to keep them down with the other meds he has to take.

The bright side is that yesterday he had a Blast at a friend’s house!  He didn’t feel that well but he went anyway.

Bennett slept all morning and most of the afternoon on Saturday. He didn’t eat very much either. Nothing really sounds good to him and when he does try something, he takes only one or two bites.

He got up in time to go to his baseball team’s game at 4. They played a double header, Bennett really wanted to go and enjoyed it! Especially the 2nd game, since we won!

This is the Thank YOU ad we put in the Benton Evening News Friday night.  Click on the document below and than you might have to click again on it and than open the file.

benton-evening-news-bennett-benefit.doc

Bennett didn’t feel very well today.  He slept and rested all morning. He didn’t feel like eating lunch. He took an anti-nausea pill at 1:00, hoping that would help.

At 2:00, he ate some lunch but threw it up. Apparently the anti-nausea medicine didn’t help.

He stayed in bed the rest of the afternoon. When I got home from work, he seemed to moving around just a little.

He threw some wiffle balls to Hamilton and Gehrig tonight. He had to sit down in a chair though to pitch them.

He has ate very little today.

Please pray that Bennett will feel like eating this weekend.

Bennett was pretty tired again today. He did go fishing for about an hour with his Grandpa and ma Johnston at their pond. They caught a few bluegill. It was really windy.

Bennett had to take a nap, his energy level was pretty low today.

He did eat good (for him) which we were all so happy to hear about. He wasn’t as sick to his stomach.

We will use the weekend to pack so if his ANC is high enough on Monday to start treatment than we are ready. Bennett is hoping his ANC is not high enough so he has another week at home.

Some of you have asked about his treatment schedule:

Bennett has finished the 2nd phase which is called consolidation. The next phase is interim maintenance 1 which lasts 63 days. He has 3 more years of chemo. He has 5 phases left. The next 4 phases should last for a total of around 9 months and than the last phase is called maintenance and he keeps repeating that phase until he has reached 3 years from the date that we start the interim maintenance 1.

We are unsure of what he will be able to do at this point (school, baseball, basketball) until we see how these different phases effect him.

Bennett was tired this morning, sleeping all morning. His stomach was bothering him and he got sick a couple of times.

He felt some better in the afternoon and went to Walmart with Grandpa and ma Page. He needed to pick out some ensure or boost drinks. The Dr. said this would be good for him to drink.

He felt better tonight and went to his baseball team’s double header.   His team won both games, Way to Go Rangers!

Hamilton also had a game too but his team lost. Oh well, Hamilton had a good game.

We had a much better Dr. visit and drive to St Louis.

The one thing that surprised me today is that his ANC has dropped even more. It is 224 which is very low.  Anything below 500 is a severe chance of getting an infection.

He received one chemo today (vincristine) through his port.

The Dr wanted us to wait to get back his CBC because she thought he looked pale but his hemoglobin was low but not enough for a transfusion.

He weighed 106. Dr. was concerned that he is still losing weight. She indicated that it is important that he tries to eat high calorie foods and gain some weight this week.

He is getting ready to start an intense chemo drug that will hospitalize him for at least 4 days next Tuesday. She said that he will be pretty sick from this and probably won’t be eating so he needed to get his strength/energy now.

The one thing that will delay this intense treatment is if his ANC doesn’t go up to 750 by Tues.

He did get sick on the way home but no tingling/numbness or rashes!  Yeah!

Thank you for lifting Bennett up in your prayers! God is listening!