Sid received his test results today and he still has rocky mountain spotted fever. The Dr. has given him another prescription of antibiotics. He indicated that it could take awhile for it to go away. I’m not sure I understand all of this or am comfortable with the answer.

It has been on the news recently that there has been over 30 outbreaks in union county of rocky mountain spotted fever. This is where Sid is working. Also, one man has died recently.

We can put our faith in God and believe that he will heal Sid of this. He has felt some better but still tired. At least the other side effects have gone away.

Bennett is doing good. He had baseball practice after school.

We are going to the country this weekend, camping at my Dad and Mom’s pond. We hope to catch some fish, ride four wheelers, shoot clay pigeons, cook out, and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

Our dearest friend Ethan had some devasting news today. His knee started bothering him and they waited a week to find out from the biopsy that it’s neuroblastoma again. He just finished up with a years worth of treatment to find out it’s back.

Ethan is a special 4 year old who is so cute and full of energy! It’s possible that he will have to go to Philadelphia for additional treatment starting next week.  We have spent many hospital visits with them sharing many emotions together. Ethan’s Dad and Bennett call Ethan’s Mom, Ryan’s Mom, and myself the cackling hens on 9west.

Please say an extra prayer for Ethan, Dave, Alicia, & Ava.  May God bless and heal our little cowboy E!

Bennett is doing good. His knee isn’t bothering him as bad. He had baseball practice yesterday and went to the hitting zone and his legs were really sore. It was more his legs than his knee. They were better tonight though! Hopefully it’s just growing pains.

His baseball team played in Marion tonight losing 5 to 15. Bennett played good. He was 2 of 3 with 2 singles, stolen base, and a RBI. His other hit was a hard hit in right field and the fielder caught it. Bennett played left field and had several grounders and caught one fly ball. He pitched 2 1/2 innings coming in the 3rd inning. The score was 0 to 13. We scored 5 runs in the 4th inning. Bennett struck out 4 batters, had 2 walks, and in the 5th inning, Marion scored 2 to win by the ten run rule.

Bennett has been really hungry even more than before because of taking the steroids.   So far, he hasn’t had an upset stomach or heartburn which is great.

We hope to find out tomorrow about Sid’s blood test; the results of the rocky mountain spotted fever hadn’t come back yet. It takes awhile to get the results.

Thank you for checking in on Bennett. May God bless you and your family keeping you safe and healthy!

Bennett’s Dr. appt in St. Louis went good. Everyone couldn’t believe how good he looked and how his hair has grown even more! He had gained 4 pounds from last month’s appt weighing in at 128! He had his port accessed and got an iv push of the chemo vincristine. Bennett mentioned to the Dr. about his knee hurting yesterday. It bothered him when she would push on it. It doesn’t hurt him to walk on it. She said since it wasn’t showing any signs of swelling that we would wait to see if it continued to hurt before doing x-rays. We pray that his knee is better at his next baseball game or practice.

It’s that time again for Bennett to take 5 days of steroids twice a day. He will take pepcid around the clock, hopefully preventing heartburn. He took 13 methotrexate pills today too which he takes weekly. His Dr. indicated that his platelet counts are probably lowering from the methotrexate pills so if they drop to 75 or below, she will stop the weekly methotrexate pills until the platelet count recovers. His platelets were at 92 yesterday. The normal platelet range is 150 to 450.

At the clinic, Bennett had his monthly pentamadine breathing treatment to prevent pneumonia. It was good to see everyone in the clinic. It seemed like it had been forever since we had been there. A month is a long time when we were used to being there several times a week for over a year.

We had a great afternoon, we met our favorite PCA from the hospital, “crazy” Kim for a late lunch and hung out at Cabela’s together. Bennett had a fun time! She hung out with Bennett a lot during his last hospital stay playing games which he really enjoyed. Below is a couple pics.

Bennett’s baseball team had a game tonight in Herrin that we missed. Bennett has to be in school at least 1/2 day to play in a game. He hated to miss it but he is just thankful that he is able to play as much as he has. We thank God daily for Bennett’s recovery, good health, and his positive attitude!

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”

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Bennett’s ANC today was 1,560 from 1,113!   Yeah!  His WBC was 2.4 with 65 neutrophils.  Hemoglobin is about the same at 11.4 from 11.3.  Platelets dropped to 92 from 119; 2 weeks ago they were 161.  We are not sure why they are dropping so much.  Platelets are what make your blood clot and keep you from bruising.  We are praying that his platelets don’t continue to drop and cause really low numbers; keeping him from baseball and other activities.

Bennett’s baseball team played tonight in McLeansboro.  We won 17 to 4 in 5 innings!!  Bennett was 1 of 3 with a single and walk.  He had 2 stolen bases with one of those being home.  He played center field catching a pop up and had 2 grounders.  The team was really pumped and played Great!  Go Rangers!

When I got to the game, Bennett was complaining about his knee hurting.  He said it hurt to walk and when he pushed on it.  I gave him some pain medicine and it helped because he made it through out the game running in the field and around the bases.  We are going to mention it to his Dr. tomorrow.  He doesn’t recall doing anything to it.  It’s not swollen or does not have a bruise on it.  We pray that nothing is wrong with his knee.

“Everyday may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.”

Bennett is having a lazy day today. He slept in this morning. He watched the Little League World Series games today and took a nap. He has had a busy week so I am glad he was able to rest today.

Last night we went to the high school football scrimmage game. Bennett wanted to go to watch all of his friends play on the team. It’s a little different knowing that his buddies are freshmen and are playing football. Bennett would be love to be playing but “football” and “wrestling” are two sports his Dr. forbids him to play. Bennett likes football and always enjoyed playing flag football when he was younger.

Sid went to have his follow up blood test yesterday and we will get the results on Monday to see if he still has rocky mountain spotted fever. We pray that it gone as it’s a pretty serious disease.

Grandpa Sidney is doing better. He is moving around more but still not a lot. He goes to rehab 3 times a week to help him exercise his ankle. His ankle has been pretty swollen and he has a ways to go before he’s running in the next marathon. LOL

Bennett’s next blood test is Monday morning. We are praying for good counts. His ANC has to be at least 750 to continue chemo. His next Dr. appt in St. Louis is this Tuesday.

Hope everyone is having an enjoyable, relaxing weekend!

“Failure is not falling down, the failure is not getting back up!”

Bennett played in Carbondale tonight and we lost 8 to 9. We only had 3 runs until the last inning and than scored 5 more. We were tied at the bottom of the 7th and Carbondale pulled it off by scoring. Bennett played really good in left field, he had two fly balls go to him that he caught. He was 3 of 4 at bat with 3 singles and 3 RBI’s.

Bennett has been ready for bed every night by 9:00 or at least by 10:00. This is early for a teenager but he has been tired. We have been monitoring him and he is not exhausted just rightfully tired. He feels better when he wakes up in the morning and is sleeping 8 to 9 hours which is good plus he needs it.

Last night he didn’t have a game but he had practice, than Hamilton had football practice and than they both had hitting zone after that. At the hitting zone, Bennett worked on pitching besides hitting. Tony is really working and giving him some instruction on pitching which is helping Bennett’s confidence.

“He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Our God is an unbelievable God!

Bennett is an unbelievable young man!

We were down 1 to 9 in the 5th inning against West Frankfort. Bennett is called in from center-field to the pitcher’s mound. He let up one hit in this inning. By the 7th inning, the score was now 6 to 9, Bennett was up to bat, he had a hard hit to the outfield, got a single and 2 runs batted in.  So, he is on first base with the score now 8 to 9, E.H. is up to bat, hits it hard and Bennett runs from first to home scoring the tie run.  It’s now 9 to 9 and we are in extra innings. Bennett is still pitching and walks the first two batters up, strikes out the next batter, and the next batter gets out.  The score is still 9 to 9.

It’s our turn to bat, first batter gets out. 2nd batter, C.F. hits a triple! Next batter strikes out. Bennett is up with C.F. on 3rd base, there is two outs. Bennett has 1 ball and 2 strikes………………..

The next pitch, Bennett hits a good hit in the hole at 2nd base. C.F. comes in to win the game. 10 to 9. We won! We scored 9 runs in 3 innings and held them to one hit and no runs!

Bennett was so nervous but you would of never known it. He looked tired by the 8th inning pitching but there was no stopping him! Bennett said, “I only prayed to God twice, Mom.”

Bennett hasn’t pitched at all since he was 10 or 11and he had problems throwing strikes. Bennett has waited for this night maybe all of his life! Even before his diagnosis, he dreamt of games like this. He has told me for several days that he could do this. We are so thankful that he is getting the chance to show that he can. He had a single, and a walk off single and was the winning pitcher with no runs, let up 1 hit, 2 walks and 3 strike outs. Maybe 10 is his new lucky number? Since that’s his new jersey number. They didn’t have 35 in the school uniforms.

We are so proud of his team! They rallied back! Nights like tonight, makes the last 19 months worth it plus makes you forget of how sick Bennett really was or can be.

Thank you; Bennett’s supporters and prayer warriors through all of this. We couldn’t be as strong as we are today, if it wasn’t for you and our Almighty God.

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Bennett’s ANC is 1,113 from 1,416. His wbc dropped to 2.1 from 2.4 and neutrophils were 53 from 59. As long as we stay above 1,000, I don’t think we can ask for anything better. The Dr. really wants his ANC from 500 to 1,500. If his ANC stayed higher than that for several weeks, she would increase his chemo pills to get it back down. With school starting, this makes me nervous with more flu bugs and germs around as he is more susceptible of catching something.

His hemoblobin went up to 11.3 from 10.4. This is Great! Hemoglobin gives you oxygen helping you to breathe and endure more activity plus keep from getting so tired.  Bennett’s is still low as normal is 12.5 to 16.3.   Platelets went down to 119 from 161.

Tonight was the Jr. High first baseball game. We lost 0 to 12.   BUT Bennett had a ground rule double which means it bounced on the ground and went over the fence.  The fence in the outfield!   LOL    His ball went about 270 yards.    WOW!    This is his farthest hit in 2 years!!    His team only had 2 hits in the game and Bennett had one of them.  The 2nd time he was up to bat, he hit it to the 2nd baseman and got out at first.  He played the whole game in center field and caught a pop up.  We are so happy and proud of Bennett!!   His next baseball game is tomorrow night at home.

The boys register for school tomorrow morning. Their first full day of school is Wednesday. Bennett found out tonight who is in his home room. We are thankful a buddy or two is in there since he doesn’t know very many people in his grade.  He didn’t go enough last year with his new class mates to get to know them or their names very well.

We believe it’s going to be a great, memorable, fun, healthy school year! Thanking and praising our Lord of making this come true!

Bennett is doing great!  Amen!  He has had a busy weekend.  Last night we went to my niece’s wedding reception.  It seems like in the past, we had to for go things like this so it was great to be a part of it.  Congratulations to Lindsay and Arturo,  Best Wishes on a blessed marriage!

We came home last night just in time to watch Phelps and the USA swim team win the gold.  What an accomplishment for Phelps to earn 8 gold medals!  History being made!

We went to church today and it was a great service.  I thank God everyday for Bennett’s miracle and being a part of his life.  We pray everyday for all the children we have met at SLCH that they will be healed and in remission forever too!    Special prayer requests for Ryan and Ethan.

Bennett had baseball practice this afternoon.  It seems almost hot today compared to what it has been.  It’s not stopped Bennett though as him and Hamilton are out playing football together in the hot sun.

We go in the morning for a blood test to check counts.  We are praying for good results and thanking God for all of his glory.