Thursday Afternoon Ben Update

Keith and I went over right after lunch to stay with Ben for a few hours. We were both very encouraged by his improvement. When we walked in, the nurses were turning him and cleaning him up, brushing his teeth, checking his vitals, etc. They had him weaned quite a bit from the sedation, he still has the breathing tube but they set it so he was breathing on his own. If his breathing got to low, the machine would kick on, but he was doing pretty good on his own while we were there. He was breathing  15 to 18 breaths per minute on his own. His B/P was 122/64. His pulse was 98. His eyes were 3/4 open and he was moving his head around and kicking his feet. They have his hands tied down so he cannot pull the breathing tube out. He looked at me and I took his hand and he immediately squeezed my fingers. You can tell that he's trying to talk but can't because of the tube. I asked the nurse if they told him where is was and why and she said they do that every day, but that it would probably be good to hear it from me too. I explained it all to him and he looked at me and moved his head and squeezed my hand. He wrinkles his forehead when I tell him he has to stay there until he's totally well before he can come home. After awhile, he fell asleep, so we left. I asked the nurse if I can bring my laptop there when I don't bring other people with me and she said yes. They have free Wi-Fi. Keith will stay over tonight with me and go to my doctor appointment in the morning with me and then Lynn is supposed to get here around noon and spend the weekend with me. I guess after that, I'm on my own. Lanny, did you want to meet me over at the hospital tomorrow afternoon sometime? Let me know. My doctor appointment is at 9:00 AM and I have to be here at noon so when Lynn arrives.