Sunday Update For Ben

It's been pouring down rain really hard since late last night. Lynn volunteered to drive down to Kaiser today because I'm already afraid of the freeway in good weather, but we did not take the freeway, she took all surface streets instead. Ben was asleep when I went into his room this morning around 9:00 AM. When I got there, I asked if I still needed to gown up and use gloves and mask, but they said he was no longer being isolated, so I could go in without all of that stuff. I asked who was his nurse today and they told me Lisa, but she had just taken her other patient for a Cat Scan, so I had to wait for her to get back. It took her quite awhile because she stayed with her patient for the Cat Scan and then when they got back, she had to hook her other patient up to everything again and give her the meds, etc. so it was about 45 minutes before she ever got to Ben and me. By this time, Lynn was really nervous because I had not come out and told her to come in from the waiting room yet, so she just came in. Lisa told me that Ben had a slight temperature again. It's been around 100° most of the day. His other vitals are good though. They are trying to wean him from the ventilator again. He was initializing most of his breathes on his own today. I think because of the fever, he was a little disoriented today. He seemed more alert yesterday. A nurse had suggested I bring a DVD he liked for him to watch, so I took my laptop and an Andy Griffith Show DVD and played three or four episodes for him, but he seemed to sleep through them. He may have been listening to them though. The ICU doctor really wants to start giving him "real" nourishment through his NG tube instead of the liquids through the IV, so that he can start gaining back some of his strength, but he said it's up to the surgeon when they are going to do that. I sure hope it is soon. He also said that he is now leaning away from doing the Paracentesis procedure because he thinks Ben's stomach problem is working itself out on its own. I was standing next to Ben's bed and I heard his stomach growl very loudly and his nurse told me she had heard it this morning too. The ICU doctor told me that his kidney function was a little better today than yesterday and if you all remember, he had said that yesterday was better than the day before. They have stopped giving him diuretics because they want his body to try to get itself working naturally with no help from drugs, etc. When I told Ben that Lynn and I had to head for home because of the heavy rain, he became a little agitated. Don't know if it was because he didn't want me to leave or because he was worried about us out in the storm. I finally got him calmed down though before we left. The hospital was very quiet today because there were not very many people in the halls, etc. due to the storm. My hiking buddy Linda is supposed to drive me down to the hospital tomorrow. I hope she won't back out because of the weather. Lanny was going to try to be there today, but couldn't make it do to the flooded streets and also the Los Angeles Marathon had several streets closed. Please continue your prayers.