Kiersten Bruers

Bennett found his voice today! We are so happy to hear him talk again! Check out Valley News Live tonight at 9pm as they are doing a story on Benny! #BraveLikeBenny

Bennett had a great night last night, because his favorite nurse from night one was back on with him. He stayed up late playing with her and interacted with her so much! When Bennett got off the helicopter and had to wait at the hospital for Kyle and I to arrive, this nurse sat with him and cuddled him until we could get to him. She has a special place in our hearts, and Bennett was so happy to see her again. Today the boys all had a pretty good day playing together at the hospital. Tomorrow Bennett has chemo again, but afterwards we will all be doing something exciting (and a little nerve racking). I’ll share tomorrow once we are done!

Bennett has had a pretty quiet couple of days. It has been nice to see his personality bounce back these last few days. He’s been playing with his brothers a lot and took a long bath today. His temperature has been good for 3 days now! He will still likely be in the hospital until at least Saturday just to continue to monitor his symptoms. He is going to be getting his next round of chemo on Thursday. We are hoping that we can get him home to Bemidji for the Battle of the Badges hockey game on October 10th. We hope to see you all there!

We had a nice low-key day today. Bennett was feeling pretty good and his personality is definitely starting to come back. Kyle took Theo on a little date today so they could have some one-on-one time together, which was much needed for them. They went to a trampoline park and had a blast. I stayed at the hospital with Bennett and Archie. Spent a lot of time just snuggling with both of them. Bennett was loving on Archie, which is so sweet to see him still be such a great big brother. He didn’t spike a fever today, knock on wood. Still expecting to be admitted for the week unless anything else happens. Bennett has also been standing up to look at all his pictures. He has been asking for his uncle Daity a lot! We are overdue for a FaceTime with Daiton

Bennett was happy today, which everyone loved to see. He slept in this morning, super late (11am) and picked at his breakfast. His appetite is very up and down as he’s coming off the steroids. He did spike a fever again today so he was given more antibiotics. Every time his fever spikes it restarts his 48hr “clock” until they will consider discharging him back to Ronald McDonald House. This cycle may continue for a while due to his neutropenia. He has been acting more like himself and playing more. Hoping he deflates a little soon so he looks more like himself too.

Bennett had a relatively good day today. He was acting more like himself and had been playing throughout the day. It seemed as if it was going to be a pretty uneventful day but unfortunately this evening his fever spiked to 100.7. This means he will most likely be staying in the hospital throughout the weekend and he will be starting more antibiotics as well. Although we’re disappointed that he likely cannot be discharged tomorrow like we hoped, we’re glad that he is right where he needs to be getting the treatment he needs to get him closer to the finish line.

Today was another chemo day. Bennett also had his last dose of steroids today too. He has been getting very swollen as a side effect of some of his medications. His face has really taken on the swelling, he looks like a chubby little bunny. His appetite is still at an all-time high with his favorites being breadsticks, goldfish, ice cream and sausage. They told us his taste for different foods changes a lot as a side effect of the chemo. Whenever he decides that he’s not interested in something, he just throws it across the room. Sometimes after he throws it, he changes his mind and wants it back so we have to have lots of backups on hand. He is going to be in the hospital until at least Saturday and they will reevaluate to see if they want to keep him longer as a precaution to his low immune system or if they feel comfortable with releasing him back to the Ronald McDonald house. On the plus side, him being at the hospital has been easier the last 24 hours because of his chemo poops. He has had a few blowouts where his diaper can’t contain everything coming out of him and makes quite the mess. It’s nice that he’s at the hospital where it’s easy to just switch his sheet and wash him up rather than in the hotel room where we wouldn’t have as many hands to help. That’s probably TMI but it’s also our current reality . Kyle and I have noticed lately that when Bennett talks, it is very hoarse and basically a whisper. At rounds we were informed that it’s possible that his vocal cords were damaged during surgery. We will monitor it for now and if there’s no improvement he will have to follow up with ENT. They told us that none of this should be permanent damage, but it makes his momma very sad to barely get to hear his voice. We also got Bennett’s bravery beads updated. It’s a cute way to track just how much he had been through. It is already so long. We are so proud of him.

Today has been a roller coaster. We started off strong as Bennett had a great appetite for breakfast. Auntie Bailey came for a visit and brought our mail which was so sweet. We missed her so much and it was so good to see her. Theo loved running around the playground with Bailey as Benny watched from the stroller. I’ve been taking Bennett’s temperature all day as I always do but today the number kept creeping up. We were told before discharge that he cannot get a temperature over 100.4 or else he would need to be seen immediately and most likely admitted. He was sitting around 100.3 off and on throughout the morning and then around noon we got 100.5. He was admitted back into the hospital and started on antibiotics and another blood infusion. He will be in the hospital now for at least 48 hours but possibly up to a week. We know that this is likely the first of many surprise re-admissions to the hospital in Bennett’s journey. We are thankful that we are in town this time to make it fairly smooth. It will be trickier when he spikes a fever once we’re back home in Bemidji, as they said he will need an ambulance ride every time his temp hits 100.4. For now, Bennett is a happy guy. He loves the breadsticks at the hospital and the strawberry banana smoothies. He’s eating his little heart out.