Sunday Update For Ben

I got to the hospital a little earlier than normal today because I had to go buy Lotto tickets and stop by the post office to mail a bill, so I just headed for the hospital after I did my errands. I sure wish the freeways were as empty during the week as they are on Sundays. Ben was asleep when I walked into his room. His vital signs were pretty good but his heart rate was up a little. His blood sugar was 125 and his temperature was 100.8° so his nurse Steve gave him some Tylenol. When I said good morning to Ben, he opened his eyes. I asked if he wanted to do his joint exercises with me. At first he did not want to do them but he finally gave in and did them, plus he helped me with them this time. We did his joint exercised three times today and would actually do them on his own some after I helped him. I would say "OK now lift your arms by yourself" and he did. I'd tell him "Bend your knees" and he did. I was pleased with that. He still gets really mad at me when I tell him he has to really want to get well for it to happen. I think he gets tired of me pounding it into his head. When Steve came in to do his hourly check on Ben, I told him I wanted a physical therapist to start coming in daily and work with Ben. Steve said he had just seen a new order from the doctor for a therapist to come in. Steve said hopefully they will start coming in tomorrow. I also asked if they had tried to wean him from the ventilator this morning. I was told the respiratory therapist came in and tried, but Ben just could not do it again. They tried for about 5 minutes, but Ben's heart rate went up and he was gasping really hard. When Steve was doing one of his checks, he was looking into Ben's eyes and I mentioned to him that Ben had eye surgery back in October and he was supposed to be having the oil bubble and cataract removed, but I had to cancel his appointment for the consultation with his eye doctor and that I had emailed Ben's eye doctor. Steve said he was going to put a note on the computer for the ICU doctors telling them about this and to find out if they wanted someone from Ophthalmology to come in and check Ben's eye. One thing I really like about Steve is that he does not like to give patients narcotics, so he will NOT give Ben any morphine unless the doctors insist. I was told that they have an order for an ultrasound on Ben's belly. They are still saying they think it is gas and NOT fluids that are making it distended. Ben was pretty sleepy today, but he would open his eyes sometimes when I say something to him and when the nurses came in to check on him. I asked again about what they think is causing him to have these low-grade fevers. Steve said that sometimes when they take a patient off of the antibiotics after they've been given a lot of them, they will develop a low-grade fever and they had just taken Ben off the antibiotics. All of Ben's cultures are still coming back negative. I had two nurses today tell me that they do NOT think Ben is ready to go into an outside unit away from the hospital yet and they told me that if I don't want him moved yet for me to voice my concerns "loudly". I still cannot understand why Ben was so alert and active right after his tracheotomy and now he's back to being really tired again.