Tuesday Update For Ben

Just got home from the hospital awhile ago. Linda drove me again. When we got there, Ben was really out of it. I guess the nurse last night had given him a sedative to make him sleep and he was zonked. His temperature was normal and all of his other vital signs were good. They had tried to turn off the ventilator to see if he could breathe on his own, but after 10 minutes, he was really struggling, so they had to turn it back on. I'm hoping that was only because he was so tired from the sedative. Most of the time we were there today, he could barely keep his eyes open. The ICU doctor came in to talk with me. He said that Ben's kidneys had improved a little more again today, his vitals were good, they were feeding him through his NG tube and he seemed to be stable. They are feeding him something called Fibersource. It almost looks like a chocolate shake. But Linda and I noticed that the doctor (Dr. Vartany) seemed very stumped as to why Ben is not improving a little more. They are still giving him anti-biotics and also the Reglan. They told me a therapist had come in for a little while last night and moved his legs and arms around some. That's about all they can do with him being so weak. What was so nice was that the two student nurses (Gilbert and Amechie) who had been taking care of him when he was up in DOU came down to see how he and I were doing. They both gave me a hug and said they were done with their training at Kaiser and would be leaving and they could not leave without checking on us and to say goodbye. They are so sweet. While Linda and I were over in the cafeteria having lunch, the trainer of the student nurses saw me and came over to see how I was doing. I thanked her again for being so nice and told her that Gilbert and Amechie were going to make great nurses. Also while we were eating, Ben's surgeon (Dr. Rupp) came by his room. She told Ben's nurse (Nick) to start doubling up on the Fibersource because she felt Ben was tolerating it very well. Nick told me about it when we got back from lunch. I also got to get with the financial consultant and pay her our co-pay for his hospital stay at Kaiser. There is a maximum amount on it we pay and we had hit that, so she told me that now Ben should have reached his yearly out-of-pocket and should now not have to pay any more co-pays for his doctors for the rest of the year. I don't know if I'm going to owe anything to Henry Mayo or if Kaiser is going to cover it all. The best part of the day was when Ben FINALLY woke up enough to realize I was there today. The sedative was finally wearing off. I just wish he had done it a little sooner instead of just before we were leaving to come home, but anyway, he started responding to me a little more when I told him he had to cooperate with the doctors and nurses and not try to get out of bed and not try to pull out his breathing tube. I told him to use all of the energy he is wasting on that and try to use it on getting stronger and getting well so he can get out of there. He nodded that he would. We'll see. They are always telling me he gets agitated when they come in to move him in the bed and give him his meds, anti-biotics, etc.