We are here at the hospital and Bennett continues to recover from his busy day yesterday.  His body (and especially his lungs) are full of a lot of fluid right now, so we are praying that he is able to keep peeing (which he is doing great!) and praying that those lungs really start to clear so that air flow can remain steady.  His ventilator has been turned up to remind his lungs what to do, and this air tube down his throat has been pushed down a bit further into his lungs to make sure the maximum amount of air is getting in.

We love our little angel boy so incredibly much.  It is really hard for his mommy and daddy to see him lying there with so many tubes and drugs entering his little body.  He is so incredibly strong and it is his strength that inspires us to keep fighting, to stay positive, and keep ALL hope going.  We really cannot wait to take Bennett home with us......we don't know when that will be, but we beg God to let it be.

Since we are pretty much in a waiting mode over the next 1-2 days to see how his body will be responding to the bypass machine switch, we will keep making updates as we have any new infomation.  We do thank God that his bleeding in his heel seems to have ended and that his brain scans continue to show no bleeding in his brain- thank you Lord for protecting his body from excess bleeding as a result of the blood thinners he is currently on.

Thank you so very much for your prayers for Bennett, and for all the love and encouragement you are showing us- it lifts us up in the "good" moments and carries us in the "bad" moments.

Love,

Travis, Kelly & Bennett

Thank you all for your continued prayers for Bennett, and I ask that they please continue.  The latest from the NICU this morning is the following:

He received a lot of blood products and platelets last night, so he will probably be swelling up again over the next day or two.  We are approaching the time during ECMO when the bypass machine is usually "exchanged" for another (usually after 7-10 days), so this may be occuring over the next couple of days.  In the long run, this will be better for his system (because of the potential for clotting the machine is having to work extra hard), but in the short run it could cause him to take a few steps back as he adjusts to a new machine.  According to the nurses, the switchover, while common, is a big deal because of the adjustment his system has to make.  Please pray that this switchover (assuming it does occur) go as smoothly as possible.

The bleeding in his heel is not as bad as last night, but it still continues some.  There is also a little blood showing in his urine and lungs, so please continue your prayers for the bleeding to stop.  Also, please continue your prayers for his lungs to be healed of the infection, and for the chest x-rays and brain ultrasounds to continue to show improvements. 

A positive sign is that he has been very alert this morning with his eyes open, so neurologically speaking the nurses think this is a very good sign. 

Kelly and I are planning to meet with the Doctors early this afternoon to go over several things and ask a few questions, so we will update you as soon as we know more. 

Thank you all again for your prayer-warrior hearts and spirits.   

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett

Family and friends,

Today is another important day in Bennett's journey, so we ask specifically for prayers over the next several hours while his bypass machine is switched out and a new bypass machine takes over.  We just met with the doctor and he made it clear that this is common and necessary, and now is the best time to do it - it is a blessing that this is happening in a planned out fashion and not a rush/STAT scenario.  Bennett's bypass machine numbers were relatively low this morning, but unfortunately the blood tests from the bypass machine were showing that clotting was occurring somewhere in the machine; as a result, platelets needed to fight in Bennett's body were going to work on the clot(s) in the machine, thus creating several issues for Bennett. 

Bennett's lungs are full of fluid right now (they are looking worse than yesterday, which is disappointing to hear), so it is crucial to get this new bypass machine going so that his body can work to get that fluid and infection OUT.  We were able to see on the lung x-rays that Bennett has a pocket of infected fluid in his right lung that will need to be drained at some point soon.  Surgeons will most likely perform the procedure sometime soon to drain the lungs to try to ensure that no bleeding occurs, and they will actually leave in a chest tube to drain out that fluid and infection.  Our doctor feels this is the safest way to avoid bleeding as a result of the blood thinner Bennett is on.

The doctor confirmed that Bennett currently has no internal bleeding in his brain, lungs, abdomen, etc. per the most recent x-rays that have been taken, so we thank God for that.

Today is going to be a hard day - it appears that we are taking a few steps back in order to move forward, but we know that Bennett is strong, God is sovereign, and many, many prayers are being offered up on his behalf.  Thank you for walking with us on this journey.......we will give updates as we know them.

Your prayers are being heard and answered - praise God!  According to the nurses, Bennett came through the curcuit switchover "like a champ," and his oxygen levels remained high during the entire switch.  The flow setting is still pretty high, but we were told this is to be expected for at least a couple of days to allow more time for his lungs to heal.  There was concern that he wouldn't adjust well to the change before it began, but so far he's doing well. 

Also, the most recent chest x-ray showed more black (oxygen) in it!  This is also a huge praise, because just a few hours earlier it had been completely white (full of fluid/infection).  The larger diameter airway tube that was placed in Bennett around noon appears to be working, along with the antibiotics, and, obviously, your prayers to our Father on his behalf.  

His bleeding, at this point, is still controlled.  He's urinating well, he's still pretty sedated because of the whole procedure, and they just performed another brain ultrasound. 

It's been a long and hard day for our boy, but right now he seems to be resting peacefully and comfortably.  The nurses and Doctors all had smiles on their faces when they told us how he handled the procedure.  It's so comforting and encouraging to see those smiles, to say the least.

But the most comfort and encouragement continues to come from each of you.  Thank you all for your prayers, and we ask that you please continue lifting our son up before the Father.  He's come a long way, but he has a long road ahead still. 

If more updates become available tonight, then we will update the website one more time.  If not, we'll see you all in the morning.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett   

My apologies again for the postings not always being in order.  I would blame it on a glitch in the system, but it's most likely a "glitch in the author" instead.  In any case, please continue to scroll up and down to see where the latest post is. 

The latest from the NICU this morning is that he had a good night's rest, and his flow (bypass) and ventilator settings are still the same as last night.  Also, his swelling seems to have come down even more, so that is also a positive sign.  His urination is less bloody than it was just 2 days ago, so that is a huge praise!  And the abdominal x-ray that was performed yesterday showed nothing abnormal, so that is also a good sign.  These are all good things, so we're very thankful for this.  They are very "small" good things, but in the NICU these small steps can seem like huge leaps!

As before, Bennett will have another chest x-ray and brain ultrasound performed this morning, so as soon as we know the results I will let you know. 

Thank you all for praying for our boy, and I ask that you please continue praying for his lungs and the infection, for bleeding to be prevented, and for the Lord to stretch out His mighty hand over our boy and heal him. 

Have a great day.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett

Greetings from Georgetown Hospital NICU- we are coming to know this place very well.  Thank you SO incredibly much for all your words of encouragement, strength, love, and prayers- they continue to sustain us and carry us and we cannot thank you enough.  We are humbled and truly strengthened by the outpouring of love and concern being shown to Bennett and our family; both from those of you that we know and love, and from those of you whom we have never met....thank you.

Bennett is having a good day, so we thank God for that.  Trav's mom and I just got to spend some time with our angel boy and also got to talk to his nursing staff a bit.  We have these things to praise God for:

 - Bennett's lung x-ray came back slightly better today (with increased signs of air flow), so we are so incredibly thankful to have baby steps in the right direction.  We continue to pray that the antibiotics kill that bacteria in a major way so that his lungs are freed from infection and pneumonia.

- Bennett's head scans from yesterday came back fine, which means that there has been no bleeding detected in his brain- praise God for that!

- Bennett's blood gases today are looking better than they have since he got to the Georgetown NICU, which gives us hope that his body is helping to contribute to produce oxygen in his blood and not solely relying on the ECMO to do this. 

- The nurses measure the circumference of his abdomen daily and today they were able to report that the circumference had decreased by a few cm, which is a good thing; the fluid they are pumping into him continues to decrease as he pees more and more, so we are so thankful for that.

- I don't have an update regarding the blood in his urine, but please continue to be praying that NO MORE BLEEDING will occur as a result of the blood thinner that he is currently on for ECMO.

We will try to get some more pictures tonight because I know you guys want to see how precious our little man is.....he is such a fighter and we are in constant amazement of Bennett's strength.  We know that God is holding our baby boy in the shadow of his wings, and for that we are thankful.

Travis is with Bennett right now, so Bennett is enjoying his nightly "man to man chat" and sweet lullabies sung by daddy.

We did just talk to the nurse a bit and learned that the coagulation levels in Bennett's blood are causing some concern and they are monitoring possible clotting (both in the bypass machine and Bennett) very closely, so PLEASE PRAY FOR NO CLOTS.  She said that it is sometimes common for clots to appear when the bypass machine has been going for a longer period of time (and we are finishing up day nine), so obviously this is something they are taking very serious.  Like I said earlier, they have not seen any clots in Bennett's body as they have done x-rays of his head, abdomen, lung, heart, etc. but we want to pray that the coagulation levels STABILIZE and that no clots are found in him nor the bypass machine. 

Bennett has an IV line in his right heel that monitors his blood pressure continuously and unfortunately this line has started to bleed this afternoon/evening and they are having issues stopping the bleeding due to the blood thinner that is necessary for the bypass machine.  PLEASE PRAY FOR BENNETT's BLEEDING IN HIS HEEL TO CEASE.  We need his heel to clot to stop the bleeding, but we don't want a clot to occur in the bypass machine- these requests seem contridictory, but it is the fine line of the blood treatments/monitoring that we knew was going to be needed for this serious procedure (ECMO).

The team will most likely be giving him more blood platelets and fluids tonight (he got some more this afternoon as well), so we are expecting that his swelling will be increasing as a result.  Since his swelling was just starting to go down, this is a bit of a step back; but it is obviously needed since his bleeding and blood clotting are serious concerns.  Travis and I will meet with the doctors tomorrow to get a better understanding of what the situation is, so we should have more details then.

We know God can answer these prayers so we will boldly ask Him to protect Bennett from both clotting and excessive bleeding as a result of the blood thinner........the tight rope walk continues, but we are holding strong to our faith, knowing that God is present and working.  Please also keep praying for his lungs to clear from infection and that the antibiotics will keep working hard.

Have a good night and enjoy the latest pics of our baby boy.

All our love,

Trav, Kell & Bennett

I just got off the phone with Kell, and she had just spoken with the attending Physician about Bennett.  When she first came into the room, the bypass machine had been turned down to .34, which means his lungs are beginning to work a little better.  The Doctors felt that his lungs may be trying to work too hard a little too soon, so they turned the bypass machine up to .40 and turned the ventilator down a bit to give his lungs a little rest.  They will see how he responds to this and make any adjustments they feel necessary as time goes on.  And so the balancing act on the tightrope continues, but so far our boy is still standing.

The most recent brain ultrasounds have come back negative for bleeding, and a recent x-ray of the kidney also came back negative.  The bleeding in the urine continues, so they are going to take an x-ray of his bladder later this afternoon.  The most recent chest x-ray showed a "slight" improvement from the "slight" improvement the day before.  They continue to remind us that he remains very, very sick, but even slight improvements, though very small, are so encouraging to hear.  He remains swollen, especially in the chest and head/neck areas, but overall the swelling has gone down from where it was over the weekend. 

Bennett also received his second visit from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) earlier today, and they are almost certain the bacteria he is fighting is "E. coli."  As bad as that sounds, it is actually quite common (normally found in adult UTI's etc) it's not nearly as bad as some of the other infections he could have had.  The CDC was brought in to "rule out" certain infections/viruses as much as to diagnose the actual infection.  It's pretty neat knowing that CDC personnel are just "down the street" in case the Doctors and nurses need them.

Please continue your prayers for our boy, specifically for the infection, for his lungs to heal, and for the bleeding to be controlled.  We can't thank you enough for your love and concern for our family.  It has encouraged and strengthened us more than you will ever know.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett