Welcome to Ben's Web Page. It's been provided to keep our family and friends updated on Ben's progress. Ben was diagnosed with bi-lateral Wilm's Tumor (cancer of the kidneys) when he was 16 months old. He's been through lots of chemotherapy treatments and surgeries over the course of his nine year old life, and has been able to fight it off four times over. Much to our dismay, he has to fight it off for a fifth time. In June 2008, the cancer once again returned, and this time it has caused acute renal failure. He is now on dialysis and will continue to be until he receives a kidney transplant. Our soon-to-be fourth grader continues to amaze us with lots of spunk, energy and a funny sense of humor. Some of his favorite things are playing video games, playing summer league baseball with his buddies, playing with Webkinz, collecting sports cards and memorabilia, quizzing people on sports trivia, riding his bike, taking walks, and drawing. He drinks, eats and breathes sports - especially football. Since he's unable to play football due to his health issues, his dream is to become a head football coach when he grows up. He has a beautiful big sister named Hannah, and although it can be hard to tell sometimes, he loves her dearly. :) He also has a twin baby sister and brother, named Ava and Max, who make his face light up with their cuteness. You're welcome to leave Ben a message in the guestbook, and as always, thanks for checking in on him!




Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What a Wonderful World
By Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole

Until there is a cure...Peace~Love~Hope~ ~ Angel Chris Schauf

Journal

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 9:04 PM CST

Hello!

We've taken just a little detour in the last few days. When I took Ben in for his injection to boost his red blood cells last week Friday, they also drew some blood to see how much his hemoglobin had increased since his last red blood cell booster two weeks ago. Instead of seeing an anticipated increase, his numbers had dipped even further. He was really low to begin with, so that was concerning. Marshfield ran stool cultures to test for blood and found a large amount in one of the tests and traces in another. He will now be having a colonoscopy and an endoscopy done next week Friday to see if they can find the source of bleeding. Hopefully it's something very simple and can be fixed easily. I'm told it's not uncommon for renal patients to experience irritation of the bowel lining.

Today I took him to Marshfield to receive more iron through an IV, get more labs, and to get another injection to boost his red blood cells. I was taught how to give the injection and then sent off with three more doses to give him at home once a week until his body recovers. We were originally scheduled to go in for his "usual" next week on Friday - labs, ultrasound, a check up with his Oncologist, and care conferences with the Nephrology team. Since we now added a new patient exam with the GI doctor, a colonoscopy and an endoscopy (requiring general anesthesia, therefore more time in recovery) to the already fun filled day, we have opted to take out the care conference and just go back and do that on another day.

As for how he feels, he's mostly just very tired and his appetite isn't where it usually is. He looks a little yellowish and his lips are pale. He told me today that he's tired of feeling like this and he "doesn't like all of this stuff".

So that's where we stand for the moment. I'll post another entry as we find out more about why he's so anemic. Thanks for checking in!

Love,
Michelle

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E-mail Author: dmhblansing@yahoo.com