Bennett is doing good. He had a fun weekend and has been feeling good. I was surprised today that he had to take a nap and he said it wasn’t because of lack of sleep last night.

He cheated over the weekend and didn’t use his crutches near like he should of. So far, his ankle isn’t bothering him from it so that’s good news. He needs to get back using them all the time. I know he is already tired of them and has a couple weeks left.

Bennett and Hamilton enjoyed our visit with the Coe family. It was a perfect day to celebrate Ryan’s life and enjoy the things he loved. The boys went boating, riding gator, driving jeep, swimming, visiting, camped out in Ryan’s cabin and fishing at the derby. The weather was beautiful.

The memorial fishing derby for Ryan was Awesome!! They had over a hundred kids to participate. Bennett caught one fish (8 in bass). Hamilton caught three fish, 1 bass and 2 catfish (22 in and 25 in).

Bennett is glad he can sleep in, in the morning and doesn’t have to take a blood test until the following Monday. We are praying his counts stay good.

“The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.” Psalm 24: 1-2

Happy Anniversary Sid! Another year together, I believe this makes 16 !

Bennett is doing good. He had weight lifting this morning and is keeping busy.

Hamilton came home from Camp Hope and was completely exhausted. He looked like a zombie, he was so tired. He was able to take a nap before his double header ball game. Unfortunately we ended up losing both, Bennett kept the scoreboard again.

Bennett went fishing today with a friend at his Gpa/ma J.’s and he didn’t catch anything. They went the other day and caught 12 bass.

The boys and I leave in the morning to go visit with our friends in Paxton IL. They are having a memorial fishing derby on Sunday for Ryan. The boys are looking forward to the trip and derby plus hanging out with Ryan’s family. Praying for safe travel.

Thanks for checking in. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

“Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4

Bennett’s ANC today is 3,233 from 1,634 from 3 days ago !!!! Amen! His WBC is at 6.1 from 3.8 and neutrophils are 53 from 43!! This is Awesome! It makes me nervous though that his WBC is so high, it actually is in normal range which is very rare so it makes me wonder if he has an infection that is elevating his counts. If you have an infection in your body, your WBC will be higher if possible to try to fight off the infection. This is unusual though because normally Bennett’s counts are not high enough to even elevate so hopefully it’s just the case of his bone marrow making lots of good cells!!! yeah!!!

His Dr. indicated for him to continue on the 75% chemo dosage for another week AND the great news is that we don’t have to check counts until the following Monday! WOW! It’s been getting tiring for Bennett to wake him up at 6:50 a.m. during the summer to check his counts. It will be Awesome to have a break for a week and 4 days!

We’re looking forward to seeing Hamilton, he comes home tomorrow around noon. We haven’t seen him since Monday. He has a game tomorrow night at home against Murphysboro. It’s his last home game for the summer. We start the sectional tournament next week in DuQuoin.

Bennett had a fun day, he spent the night with a friend last night and they hung out all day. They went to the movies tonight in Marion.

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32

Bennett is doing good. He feels super! He has been keeping busy the last couple days hanging out with friends! It’s such a great feeling that he feels well enough to hang out with friends. I’m starting to miss him being around. He used to be home every evening and recently he has been doing stuff with a couple of friends.

His ankle is not bothering him which is good but he is getting tired of the crutches especially since it’s not in any pain or swollen. We’re thankful for that, it’s just easier for him to walk on it at times. He still uses the crutches when he is going to be walking quite a bit. I hope he can just put up with all of it for a few more weeks. He’s probably 1/2 way through of staying off of it.

He has a blood test in the morning. We pray for good counts. He took 9 methotrexate pills yesterday and has taken two days of the daily chemo 6mp.

Hamilton was supposed to have games last night and tomorrow night and they both have been canceled. I’m sure he is glad so that he doesn’t have to leave camp, he is really enjoying it. We miss him.

“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Bennett’s ANC today was 1,634 from 1,232 from two days ago! His WBC was 3.8 from 2.1 and neutrophils were 43 from 59. His hemoglobin went up to 12.7 from 11.5! And platelets are 129 from 116.

His nurse wants him to take another blood test at our local hospital this Thursday to make sure his counts are holding with chemo. She wants to verify that they are still doing good since they really dropped and he was just hospitalized.

His Dr. wanted him to start back taking his chemo which she changed last week to 75% of his regular dosage from the 50% he was taking. He has only taken the increased dose only one day because we stopped all chemo on Thursday when he had the fever and headache.

He is spending the night with a friend tonight and we both forgot about the 6mp chemo pills that he takes right before bedtime so I had to take them to him at 11:30 tonight. I’m glad he can start taking them again and his counts were great and he is feeling good!

Hamilton left church camp tonight for his double header ball game at the park, we won both games. His team really played well tonight. Ham got back to camp around 10:15 p.m. and couldn’t wait.

“You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand.” Psalm 139:4-6

Bennett is doing good. I was really happy that he was able to go to sleep last night. He slept in this morning which we thought was definitely needed.

He went fishing this afternoon with some friends and he also fished at his Gpa/ma J’s this evening. He caught a few small ones and than a few bass. We were able to have our family get together tonight with picnic and fireworks. He helped Sid light off the fireworks. We couldn’t believe how cool it turned out this evening. We missed Hamilton being there, I took him today to Camp Hope church camp, he will be there all week.

We go in the morning to our local hospital to check his counts. We pray that they are higher especially since he hasn’t had any chemo since Wednesday.