Ben-Emergency Surgery

Around 2:30 PM Monday Ben was really feeling bad. He asked me to take his blood pressure and when I did it was only 74/59 so I was going to rush him over to Kaiser, but it's 25 miles away, so I took him to our local hospital ER. They checked him out and said he needed emergency colon surgery. The pumped about 3 buckets of bile out of him from his stomach. The inserted a tube into his nose which went down his throat to his stomach.

My hiking friend Linda (love her to death) came and stayed with me at the hospital so I would not be alone.

The surgery was at 10:00 PM and lasted until midnight. The surgeon came in and told me that Ben's lower intestine/colon (right side) had somehow twisted itself and was "kinked" so that nothing could flow through it. When he untwisted it, he said it was "floppy" so he removed that section of the intestine/colon. Surgery went very well, but they are a little worried about his kidneys because the were down to 20% function. They say the kidneys should heal themselves and work just fine, but they are keeping an eye on them. So that is our only big worry right now.

I went into ICU to see him before I came home. He will be sedated for a long time and will probably be in the local hospital for at least 5 days and then if Kaiser wants him transferred to their hospital over the hill, they will do that. But the surgeon said he may not even have be transferred over there if he seems well enough to come home in about 5 days. But knowing Kaiser, they will probably insist their doctors look at him.

Got home at 2:00 AM and I am still very wide awake. I was a little sleepy in the waiting room, but the ride home woke me up.

I will keep you all posted. Prayers are appreciated.