10:00 a.m.  Bennett’s methotrexate level is .21. God is answering our prayers. Thank you for praying for our special boy!    His bike wreck wounds look better.  Creatinine level looks good. Bennett’s blood pressure was high last night with midnight vitals but was good at 2 a.m.  We were awake several times through out the night with IV pump beeping. Next level check at 5:50 p.m. 

2:30 p.m. Bennett’s mouth is looking bad. It looks raw and rigid. The two mouth sores he had before starting treatment are now worse and deeper.  He is eating though which is unbelievable. He had lunch in Ryan’s room eating half turkey sandwich and banana. His potassium is low, he wants to see if eating the banana helps. He had cereal as a snack.   He says right now, his mouth isn’t hurting.

7:00 p.m. Bennett’s methotrexate level is .13. Another night, hopefully not another day in the hospital. We are enjoying our visit with our friends from Paxton IL and the nurses. Bennett’s potassium went up from 3.0 to 3.5 so it’s no longer low, the banana worked!  The Dr. gave Bennett an antibiotic pill (besides the appointment) to take 3 times a day for a week for his bike wounds. They have been oozing and they don’t want infection to set into his blood or give him staph. 

10:30 p.m. Bennett is already a sleep.  He was getting tired plus he did want to go to bed early so he will be ready to go in the morning if his level is cleared.  Next level check at 5:50 a.m.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” James 1:17

1st time      2nd time        3rd time           this time

55.08                   113.0              52.06                        73.28

1.43                         1.62                1.19                             .91

.41                              .41                  .95                             .71

.67                              .79                   .30                            .21

.37                              .78                    .16                            .13

.37                              .51                     .11                           .08

.14                              .29

.11                              .15

                                   .12

                                   .06                     

10:00 a.m. Bennett felt good last night. He went through his website with one of our favorite nurses. He stayed up until midnight watching TV.  He is up this morning which is good sitting up watching TV and practicing his duck call . He has a headache, they are going to try Tylenol first.  Level check will be at 11:50 a.m.  

1:30 p.m.  Bennett’s methotrexate level is .91, last time was 1.19. It has to be at .10 for him to be discharged. They started him on leucovarin that helps with the side effects.  Bennett’s headache is better. He felt a little nausea but he went ahead and ate cocoa puffs for lunch. His friend, Kyle that we met on the “His Kids” Branson trip had to have a CT scan so he stopped by to see us. Next level check at 5:50.

8:30 p.m. Bennett’s methotrexate level is .71.  He ate little cereal late afternoon. His friend, Ryan was admitted today so he went and visited with him for a minute. He has been sleeping for the last 2 hours.

11:30 p.m. Bennett has been snacking this evening. He has been making himself eat and drink some.   It has become the night owl.  He feels good. His bike wreck wounds are not looking good. Dr. is concerned of infection setting in so she prescribed an ointment.  The methotrexate in his body makes the sores a lot worse. Next level check at 5:50 a.m.

“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” Proverbs 30:5

9:30 a.m. Everything is going as expected. Bennett is doing good, he stayed up until around midnight.   He had to get bi-carb at 5:00 a.m. because of it being low in his urine. We waited for the 2nd bag of methotrexate for about 30 minutes from the pharmacy so started at 6:00 a.m. with it. They will speed up the rate if needed to finish on time at 5:30 p.m.  

2:00 p.m. Bennett has had an upset stomach. He hasn’t ate or drank anything all day. He asked for more anti-nausea medicine so they gave him antivan at 1:00.  He can have this every 6 hours on top of the zofran. He has never had antivan so hopefully it work and he will feel like eating soon. The methotrexate will be finished at 5:30 p.m. They will do a blood test to check the first level of the methotrexate. Praying for a low level.

8:00 p.m. Bennett has been sleeping since 3:00; he just really woke up.  A side effect of the ativan is being really tired. He is going to walk around to see what patients and nurses are here.  His methotrexate level is 73.28. Last time was 52.06.

Our roommate was discharged so we moved to the other side by the window with a couch.  The blinds are broke so I taped up a sheet and towels to keep the sun from coming in and waking up Bennett this afternoon.

Bennett had a student nurse this morning. The teacher came in and asked Bennett what grade he would give her, he said C. She asked what she needed work on and Bennett said taking his blood pressure, he had to show her twice the right way to do it, she had the cuff upside down.  

He ate a bowl cereal with milk plus fritos and gatorade. He is feeling pretty good now.

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust….” Psalm 18:2

3:30 p.m. Bennett was admitted to the hospital at 3:00. He got the last bed available on the 9th floor. We have the smaller side with a chair.  We had a long wait to see the Dr. and than waited for his blood test to come back.  His ANC is 1,827.  He has been on fluids for the last 2 hours or so. His urine is at the level it needs to be to begin. We are waiting for the high dose methotrexate to be made and sent up from the pharmacy.

 Dr. Shenoy has ordered for him to receive 20% less from the full dose! Last time he received 25% less so a tad more this time. She felt good that he had 2 rounds with the whole dose. 

7:00 p.m. Bennett received an iv push of the chemo, vincristine and started the high dose methotrexate at 5:30 p.m. It will run for 24 hours. Bennett took about an hour nap. We ordered pizza for dinner, he ate 2 pieces of stuffed crust.  Bennett has been playing/tooting his duck call that he got this morning at Cabela’s.

10:30 p.m. Bennett is doing good, he is in good spirits. He has been watching the card game. He is currently at the nurses station hanging out pretending to be on his computer.    He will be receiving another dose of anti-nausea med zofran in about an hour. He also will be taking his chemo pill, 6mp before he goes to bed.  He has 2 more weeks of taking this pill and than he will start the next phase of treatment. 

We ask God to let Bennett clear the methotrexate quickly with no mucositis or other side effects.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble on its own.”  Matthew 6:34

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Community asked to donate soda tabs to help offset medical Expenses for Page
By Mona Sandefur

Benton students are doing what they can to help on of their own. Heather Threlkeld, Benton Community Consolidated Grade School Dist 47 Parent Teacher Organization president, said organizers are hosting a different type of fund-raiser for Page that will run throughout the school year.

“We are asking for community involvement.” Threlkeld said. We have three collection boxes inside the school. One near the K-4 office, 3-4 and 5-8 commons area.

Threlkeld said tabs would be taken to the recycling center. “We will donate the money collected to Bennett’s family,” she said.

Benton Grade School students Kyrie Dial, 9, and Logan Threlkeld, 9, both fourth graders, are joining forces with their classmates to collect soda can tabs to benefit Bennett Page. Page was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in February. PTO President Heather Threlkeld invites the community to participate. Collection tubs are located within the school and the collection continues through the school year. Photo by Mona Sandefur

Bennett was pretty tired today. He has a lot on his mind right now, I know God is in control and will work out the best for Bennett.

He stayed home with Gma J today, I met them for lunch. He ate a little. He has been having problems with his cell phone so Gma took him to Marion and he got a new one.

He has a headache this evening and again really tired. I am sure his not looking forward to what tomorrow might bring if he has treatment.

The Dr. wants to see Bennett tomorrow and check out his mouth. The sores are not as bad but I can tell where they are at plus I think inside his mouth by his cheek bones look raw and rigid. We are leaving early because Bennett wants to go to Cabela’s to look at dove hunting stuff before his 10:30 appt. because if he is admitted he won’t feel up to going after his treatment. He’s always thinking ahead!

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ” Romans 15:5-6

We went to church this morning. It is always a great feeling to be in the Lord’s house. Bennett and I went to my Dad/Mom’s for him to practice shooting clay pigeons again. They have 2 baby peacock’s, actually they are pretty grown – (their probably teenagers). LOL

Also, Bennett showed me their new Egyptian geese; they are really different. If you didn’t know, my parents live on a farm – with so many different kind of animals. Bennett and Hamilton love it! But they don’t have to do the chores like I once did! LOL

Bennett’s 2 mouth sores are better but still there. His mouth sores that he gets are like canker sores inside his mouth. I will call his nurse tomorrow and let her know.

“Whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report – meditate on these things.” Philippians 4:8

Bennett had a pretty good day. There is a lot of emotions going on right now and we have a heavy decision on our heart regarding Bennett’s education, Please pray for Bennett and us that it all will work out.

Bennett and his Dad went out to Gpa’s to shoot clay pigeons today. He is really practicing on his shot. Tyler came over this afternoon and they went to Thomas birthday party.

I have a feeling since his ANC is so high that the Dr. will want to go ahead with his treatment on Tuesday. Hopefully the mouth sores will be mostly gone.

“Carry each other burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

Bennett had a great day! He went to Dunn’s Sporting Goods in Marion with his Gpa/ma Page looking at guns. Bennett is really getting prepared and thinking about dove hunting. He has never dove hunted but has deer hunted for couple years.

He went to Trey’s house this afternoon and went to the Varsity Highschool football game. He hung out with friends and had a great time. We had a surprise tonight at the game,  Brittani Shurtz was there for a little while!!  Yeah! We were so happy for her and she looked beautiful!

We went for his blood test this morning and his ANC came back at 1,596! WOW! I couldn’t believe it went up so high. After doing some research this evening the nurse figured it wrong on Tues., she said 360 and it actually was 1,464 . A little aggravating as we have been so careful with germs and everything.

We are waiting for his nurse to talk to the Dr. on Monday about his mouth sores to see if she wants to begin treatment on Tuesday. So we may or may not be admitted Tuesday for the last high dose of methotrexate.