Monday Update For Ben

Arrived at Ben's room at 9:35 AM. He could not talk today, but communicated to me that his belly hurt. His belly has gotten very hard again. His nurse Manjit came in and turned on the suction that brings the liquids out of his belly through his NG Tube and orange stuff (about the color of orange juice) started coming out and it looked thick. I was surprised to see that they had him on a weaning trial today. He was on it from about 8:15 AM and was still on it when I left. The respiratory therapist kept coming in to check on him and said he was doing very well on it today, that he was not gasping and that everything looked good. This is the first time anyone has done this in weeks. Jennifer, our hospital social worker came by to see us and gave Ben a nice pep talk. He responded very well to her. He was showing his sense of humor with Jennifer by making funny faces, smiling and rolling eyes a lot. Manjit told me that a physical therapist came in early this morning before I got there but that she did not do anything with Ben, so I did arm and leg exercises with him. He doesn't like doing them, but when I tell him how important they are for him to get well, he finally gives in. Dr. Kim was in for Dr. Hu today. He checked Ben out and said Ben would definitely not be going to All Saints today because of his belly being hard again. He ordered x-rays to be done to see if it is fluids again and if so, he will order another belly tap for later today or early tomorrow. I asked Dr. Kim if there was any other kind of medication or drug that could help "jump start" Ben's intestines. They have already tried Reglan and Neostigmine, but neither seemed to help. He told me that they are the most commonly used and that they are the strongest used. The doctor said that they are giving Ben Lasix which is a diuretic, but that he may raise the dosage to see if that helps the fluids leave Ben's body and maybe not build up in his stomach.