Sunday Evening

Okay so on Thursday Matt took Olivia to the Doctor about a cough she has been experiencing. She has Bronchitis but hasn't had any fever or anything that meant she needed anti-biotics. She is feeling a lot better today but still coughing a little bit. On Friday night Ben started coughing. It really sounds very similar to Olivia's cough. I also had this cough 2 weeks before Ollie, so it could be they both caught this from me. The cough is aggrevating Ben's headaches, and he started sneezing almost everytime he coughed all day on Saturday. Today Ben woke up with a fever and he has been fever free since very early on friday morning. So they have drawn cultures to check, they do this anytime a fever comes back after 24 hours. Ben's headache was really bad today and he spent most of the day with the lights off and his head under the blanket or buried in the pillow. My mom and dad were going to come to visit today, but mom got a cold so they had to change their plans. This made Ben sad but he understands. Matt and his mom are coming tomorrow morning so he will get some visits in tomorrow. Ben is such a strong little guy. Sometimes sitting here I can't believe he is a six-year-old. Most adults wouldn't handle this level of pain with half as much strength. Pray for my baby Please!!! It is so hard to watch him be in so much pain. The Doctor gave us a little bit of hope that we might only be here for 14 days. Pray for wisdom for the them to make the right decision. They will re-evaluate Ben at 13-14 days. It could go one of three ways: 1. They decide they are sure he is well enough to go home. 2. They will decide they need to do another spinal tap to confirm there is no more sign of infection. If there is they will keep him for the full 21 days. If not they will let him go home. 3. Or they will be unsure if 14 days is enough but not want to put him through another spinal tap and keep him here the additional week of anti-biotics. The Corynebacterium that came from the original culture has not grown enough for a species yet and all of the more recent cultures have not grown anything yet. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support. Thank you for those of you who sent the E-cards from the Cincinnati Children's Website. Ben loves them and we have them hanging on the wall. He asks me several times a day to read them to him. If anyone else would like to send one you can do this at http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/patients/resources/ecard/ Just put in Benjamin Bearden (dont use Ben) and leave the room number blank. We are so blessed to have so many people praying for us and I want to let you all know how powerful it is and that there have been so many times when I just KNOW that people everywhere are praying and I can see things immediatley start to get better. Please keep it up because we need it!! Love you all, Jamie