Bennett is doing good.  The sinus surgery was pretty rough the first few days.  It will be 3 weeks tomorrow since surgery. He still has a few headaches, stuffy and running nose. He goes back to the ENT Dr. next Tuesday and we should receive the results from the allergy testing.  They also tested the polyps that they burned from his sinus cavity so hope to hear those results too.

Bennett’s monthly St. Louis appt was today but they called last week and asked to reschedule because of the holiday yesterday being closed, they will be really busy and with his being a check up they preferred moving. His appt is now July 26th.  After this appt, his check up appts will be quarterly, so happy to be at this point in his journey!!

It was a joyous time this weekend to celebrate Bennett’s one year of being chemo free!  July 3, 2010 was his last day of any type of  chemo.  We are so blessed that he is doing so good.  We praise God for his grace!!!

Bennett  had sinus surgery last Wednesday.  The ENT Dr. that he saw, the week prior took a mini cat scan and found that his sinus were blocked and he had lots of inflammation. He said Bennett needed surgery and Bennett wanted it done right away so less than a week later, he’s having surgery.  He was sick again with a sinus infection and had already spent a few days in bed. We figured it up and he has had an infection every other month and is sick for about two weeks.    He had several polyps that were burnt off too.  The Dr. did allergy testing that we will find out the results in 3 weeks when we return for his follow up appt.

We got to the Mt Vernon hospital at 8:30 and didn’t leave till 5:30.  The surgery only took about an hour, it took 3 to 4 hours for him to recovery.  It was very painful and alot of pressure in his nose and head.  He got the packing out Friday & gradually started feeling better.  He still has a cough so the Dr. continued him on augmentin.   He had about 3 days that he was miserable. .  He can’t be out in the heat, lift anything and basically take it easy for 10 days.

He got up early this morning and went fishing before it got too hot.  He was so ready to get outside. Him and Hamilton went fishing  yesterday too for a couple hours at Gpa/ma Johnston’s pond and caught about 10 bass.  

He went to the orthopedic Dr. last week too.  They cleared him from having to wear the boot anymore.  We’re thankful that his ankle turned out okay. We pray for no other breaks or fractures.  Also, that the sinus surgery will relieve him of sinus infections and that he will have a whole new beginning of “feeling good”!

God is Good and we are so thankful for his daily blessings!

Bennett’s ANC is 1,880. His WBC is 4.7 and neutrophils are 40.  Hemoglobin is 14.3 and platelets were at 149.  His counts seemed a little lower but his nurse and Dr. assured us that all looked good.  It’s just going to take awhile for his white blood cells to rebound. It seems to that any cold or infection really affects them.

Bennett went to the Dr. in St. Louis on Tuesday for his check up.  She asked what he has been doing this summer and if he had a job.  He has been umpiring 4 to 6 baseball games weekly. He also started helping at his girlfriend’s family auction on Friday night working from 5:00 to midnight.  He likes it and is getting a little extra gas money.

He has one more monthly Dr. check up in July and than he will start going every 3 months.  It will be hard going from monthly counts to quarterly.  We used to get his numbers daily, weekly and now monthly.  It will seem like forever to wait every 3 months.  We’re thankful for God to continue to bless Bennett with remission and we continue to pray that the leukemia stays away forever.

We ask for special prayers for Sid’s cousin’s family.  His cousin, Eric lives in Albers, IL and in his early 20′s.  He was diagnosed 2 years ago with ewing sarcoma and recently passed away.  He was so brave and faught every day. May God bless his family.

Bennett’s ANC is 2,778. His WBC are 6.8 and neutropils at 41. Hemoglobin is 15.2 and platelets at 309, all in normal range. His follow up appt in St. Louis is tomorrow. 

Bennett is feeling so much better. He finally got over of having a fever, he had a fever for about 7 days. He had an upset stomach for about 9 days and by last week started feeling good.  His sinus infection has improved and hopefully gone away too.

He has been wearing his boot when he can. He can’t drive with it so he takes it off and puts it back on when he is done.  His foot isn’t soar anymore. It isn’t swollen or bruised so that’s all good signs.  He has started umpiring baseball games and it’s really difficult to wear the boot during that time.    He may have to wear it longer but we’ll see when he returns to his follow up appt in about 2 1/2 weeks.

 We are so blessed and thankful that Bennett is doing good.  We have some friends that are not doing as well and it sure breaks your heart to hear of them having a difficult time.  Please pray for all the children fighting this horrible disease or the side effects from their treatment.  God Bless.

Bennett is doing a tad better.  He still has a temperature at 101.6 this evening.  He is eating a little, he is making himself eat so he take his antibiotic.  He didn’t feel like going to school but he did for one class because it’s too difficult to make up. So he made it through 2nd hour and missed 1st, 3rd, and 4th hours of school. He came home and went back to bed and that’s all he has done all evening.  It’s just going to take a little time to get over this, we just pray it doesn’t get worse.  God Bless everyone!

Where to Begin?

Bennett’s first Dr. appt was as the orthopedic Dr. in Herrin regarding his ankle/foot. The ortho Dr. confirmed that he has 3 fractures in his foot in the tibia, calcaneus (heel), and near his ankle.  He also has low grade sprains in his foot and heel ligaments.  He has a lession on his distal shaft on his tibia but this Dr.,  the radiologist and St. Louis Children’s Hosp. radiologist agree that it’s not cancerous!  Amen!  There was a question at first and thought he may need a bone scane with his history of leukemia!  Praising God for the good news!  (that fear of hearing the nasty six letter word, we’ll never go away)

The ortho Dr. decided to put him a “boot” that he will have to wear 4 to 6 six weeks.  He should wear all the time except for showering and sleeping.  We have another appt in 4 weeks and he’ll decide than.  Bennett will have to do physical therapy after the boot as well.  There were several places on his foot that were swore to the Dr. touch and the Dr. knew exactly where they were at after viewing his MRI.

Next Dr. appt was to check about his fever.  It hasn’t been as high today but has been around 100.  The Dr. said his sinuses were blocked so he probably has a sinus infection.  She was concerned because his temp was so high so she did a influenza test and mono test, both came back negative!  We also did a CBC blood test. His ANC was 11,096, His WBC were abnormally high at 15.2 which means he probably has an infection.  Your WBC will increase to try to fight off the infection.  His hemoglobin was good at 15.0 and platelets good at 166.   

This makes about the 5th or 6th sinus infection he has had with one about every month.  This time, it’s only been just a few weeks away.  He was prescribed doxycycline. Dr. is going to refer him to a ENT Dr. to look more into his sinuses.  He has sinus surgery back 2 years ago and the ENT Dr. at that time didn’t go any further into it because she didn’t want to interfere with his chemo treatment plan.

He is feeling some better already compared to last night today. He had such a severe headache that he didn’t want light, food, or noise.

We pray he continues to feel better and God heals his broken bones.

“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ” 1 John 4:11

Bennett is not feeling well. He has had a 103 temp after school. It’s down now to 102 after Tylenol. He felt bad at school too with a severe headache, sinus pain, and his chest hurting. He has been in bed since he got home from school laying in the dark. He’s head is the worst and he’s thrown up once. He went to the Dr. 10 days ago and got a z-pac for a sinus infection. He has started feeling better but now even feels worse than before.

He has a Dr. appt with the Herrin Orthopedic at 9:00 am in the morning. I hope he feels like going. We’re anxious to hear what the ortho Dr. wants to do with his ankle and hopefully learn more about the stress fractures and sprained ligaments.    Thank you for your prayers.

We have good news and bad news!

Good news is that Bennett’s MRI showed no disease in ankle or foot.  The radiologist in Herrin first thought he saw something suspicious and may need a bone scan to further investigate.  The first thought was that there maybe leukemia in his foot.   We talked to his oncology Dr. on Thursday late afternoon and she wanted a radiologist from Children’s to read it.  They wanted us to get a copy of the MRI and over night it.  We decided to take it to the St. Louis hospital on Friday so we could receive the results sooner and by Friday afternoon, we heard back from his oncology nurse.  God answered our prayers and the SLCH radiologist said no sign of disease!!  Praise the Lord! 

Bad news is that he has 3 fractures and a couple sprained ligaments in his ankle/foot besides lots of swelling and fluid.   He will go to a orthopedic Dr. in Carbondale to see what they want to do, we are assuming he may have to wear a boot.  The shortest of these fractures is 5 cm long and the longest is about 6 cm.  We believe they are stress fractures which we will receive more detail next week from the orthopedic but we believe one is in the heel and other near the ankle. 

Nothing showed up in the x-ray he had a week or so ago.  This is all from him falling on his ankle while playing catch.  He has had problems before in the past with stress fractures in both ankles.  We believe that his bones are weak from all the steriods he took with his 3 1/2 years of treatment.  It’s a frustration but defintely something we can deal with as long as he stays healthy and cancer free!

“Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:8

Bennett has been a little sick with headache, coughing, and a sore throat.  His sinuses have really bothered him so Friday he went to the Dr. and she prescribed him the zpac which he has one more day left.  He is feeling some better.

About a week and half ago, he fell after catching a ball in his girlfriend’s yard and hurt his ankle and foot.  Twoweeks ago, he got an x-ray and it came back normal. When he went to the Dr. Friday, he showed her his ankle again and she decided to order a MRI on it.  He will have the MRI this Thursday at Herrin Hospital.  We pray it’s normal and it just needs time to heal.  It’s very sore to walk and is really bruised.

We had an awesome weekend. Hamilton was baptized and it was a beautiful service.  We are so proud of him.  He has been going to confirmation class for the last two months.  It is such an amazing and proud feeling for our family.  We pray that he continues to grow in his spirtual faith!  What a blessing!

“All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  Romans 6:3-4