Bennett has been feeling well. He is tired some. He take naps and rests as needed. He will be glad that tomorrow is his last dose of steroids for awhile. They have made his face puffy and red.

He had a good weekend. He enjoyed going to watch the Jr High boys win their game Saturday at the State tournament. I know it has to make him sad to not be able to play but he doesn’t talk about it. I’m proud of him of being able to go and watch his friends and cheer on the team. With the decision being made to repeat 7th grade again, this keeps him from playing sports even if he felt like it. The IHSA rules states that if you repeat a grade you are not allowed to play sports that year. We understood this while making the decision and knew it would be something we would just have to handle and look forward to do the day that Bennett can actually play. Hopefully next year he will be physically able to be back in full swing!

Here is a couple of pics from last year’s Jr High Rangers placing 4th place at State!

Bennett is doing good. His nose has been running a lot but we think this is allergies or possibly the steroids he is taking. He really enjoys school. I asked him the other day if he was happy with the decision of being in 7th grade again this year and his answer was yeah, I really like it and I am doing better with my school work.

Our friend from SLCH that I asked prayer for named Cole left all his suffering here on earth and is in his new happy home with Jesus. He had a brain tumor that was not operable and he passed away suddenly. It breaks my heart for this wonderful family, please pray for them.

This makes me think of a story I read on the internet one night after we got home from the hospital after Bennett was diagnosed. It was a mother writing about her son being diagnosed with cancer and how sad she was. When the Dr. came into their hospital room to tell her what her son had, he was smiling. The mother was aggravated of how the Dr. could be smiling while he was telling her the bad news about her precious son. He began to tell the mother that this is good news, your son can be cured! He just had to tell another family that he couldn’t help their son because there were no treatments or surgery he could do. As upset as I was with Bennett’s diagnoses of having cancer, I began to be thankful while reading this story, thankful that Bennett’s leukemia is treatable. Thank you God for giving us the hope that Bennett will be well someday and free of chemo!

“The works of the LORD are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them, His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered. The LORD is gracious and full of compassion.” Psalm 111: 2-3

God blessed Bennett 8 years ago with a special baby brother!

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY HAMILTON!

Hamilton has been strong and amazing through this difficult time with Bennett! He is so understanding and has handled it braver than anyone I know! Bennett and Hamilton are so fortunate to have each other as brothers and as best friend’s!

Everything went well with Bennett’s appt today. It only took about 2 hours at the hospital, a record time!  The nurse accessed his port, she does this every time. Bennett puts emla cream on his skin above the port so he doesn’t feel the needle as bad. It still hurts some when she access it because of the pressure.  He was given an iv push of the chemo vincristine and an iv drip of doxorubicin. Bennett did his homework while waiting.

We had enough time and he felt like stopping by the Galleria and ate lunch at the St Louis bread co.

It was good to see the rain today, it sprinkled mostly on our way to and from St Louis.

Bennett started taking steroids again today for one week. Two in the morning and two at night with food.

Bennett’s next appt is 2 weeks from today! We are expecting him to feel like he has for the past 3 weeks or so.  We will be enjoying every minute especially because in 2 weeks, his treatment because more intense.

Bennett had a blood test this morning before he went to school. His counts were good. His ANC was 1,586. His creatinine level was a little high at .9; it usually runs around .7.  It is still in normal range but a little higher than his normal level. They will keep an eye on it.

He has an appt in the morning at St Louis for more chemo. It should be a pretty good day, he has the same treatment that he had last week.

He played basketball and football tonight with Hamilton. He is feeling good.

“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad.” Psalm 126:3

Bennett ate donuts for breakfast and they didn’t stay down long. It seems he has been getting sick to his stomach at least once a day.

He and his Dad took Hamilton and his friends to the golf course to play golf. We ate lunch and than went to Drew’s bday party. Bennett needed to rest this afternoon for about 45 minutes. He went looking for dove back behind our house this afternoon and he practiced his shot on clay pigeons this evening.

We have heard the flu is going around with a high fever. Praying that Bennett doesn’t get sick. His ANC on Monday should be accurate since he hasn’t been on steroids this week.

Please pray for a young child named Cole that we met through St Louis Children’s Hospital. He has a caring bridge site and I have been following his progress. They only give him through Halloween to live. I haven’t really talked about this in the past but we have met a few patients on 9 west that never go home to their house but go home to the Lord. It is very breath taking and it makes me even appreciate more the good times we have with Bennett!

“Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  John 14:1-2

Bennett got sick to his stomach in the middle of the night. He felt pretty good this morning. Probably a delayed side effect from the chemotherapy. It has to get tired of this; he doesn’t complain about it though, it’s just part of it.

He said his legs had a a pain in them last night, a few times when he stood up from sitting. We will keep an eye on it and tell the Dr. if it persists.

They only had a 1/2 day of school today. He went to lunch and went to baseball practice to watch with a friend. Also they worked on an invention for a school project this afternoon.

He went to the varsity football game this evening and was ready to go home afterwards. He said he had been tired most of the night.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

Bennett had a good day. He went to school and even participated in P.E. for the first time playing dodge ball.

After finishing his homework, Brittani came over to hang out with him.  It was so nice to see her and him out of the hospital and in a normal environment!  They had a great time riding around in her car and watching a movie at our house.

Bennett felt pretty good today. A little tired this morning as he was getting up for school. He had a good day at school. He is trying to catch up on the work he had missed for the last couple of weeks; he is doing really good. We were impressed that he only missed 2 problems on his math pre-test. It’s been about 4 months since he has done any math problems.

He went to the Jr. High baseball game in Centralia this afternoon with the Smith’s and enjoyed pizza afterwards!

We are enjoying the simple life. No chemo, no pills, no needles, or no doctor appointments until next week!  Yeah!

“Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

Bennett got sick to his stomach today after breakfast on the way to St Louis. His appt went good. They gave him zofran before giving him his two different chemotherapy medications. He received an iv push of vincristine and iv drip of doxorubicin that takes about 30 minutes. The nurse agreed that steroids will elevate your white blood cells but the other counts should be accurate and they wanted to make sure he didn’t need a transfusion of blood.

He weighed 117 today. I was surprised it wasn’t more but he has been pretty activity so probably burning what he eats. I don’t think he is eating normal yet but is eating a lot more than he did a couple of weeks ago.

We go Monday morning again for a blood test at our local hospital and than back again in the clinic on Tuesday for the same chemo meds.

We stayed at the hospital awhile. We spent at least an extra hour visiting with Ryan that is still in the hospital. He still has a fever and just got out of ICU today. Please pray for him. We also had a surprise and ran into Steve and Brittani today at the hospital.

We were going to go to the mall after Bennett’s appt but he was ready to go home. It was already late afternoon and Bennett was really tired.