Wednesday Update For Ben

Ben was awake when I came in this morning as his nurse (Joyce) was cleaning him and repositioning him. He was very alert today but seemed tired. He told me his left knee was still hurting a lot and it is still red and a little swollen. They are still giving him an antibiotic for his knee. His belly is still big but not too hard and it is still draining some through his NG Tube. He had told one of the nurses that he had been passing gas, but there is no way for us to confirm that and sometimes he is confused. It would be good if he is passing gas so that the bloating in his belly will go do, but he has not had a BM for several days and he tried to tell us that he had one recently. That's why we are not sure about the passing of gas. His belly is making a lot of sounds, so hopefully that is a good sign. They are using mineral water suppositories on him to see if that will help him have a BM. He actually looked better to me today. His color was excellent and his eyes are very clear. I did not see anyone from physical therapy again today, so I worked with him on some of his exercises, but we had a problem doing anything with his left leg because of his sore knee. I spoke with Dr. Vas and he said that Ben's test results from the x-rays they took with the dye going through Ben's intestines showed no blockage. He told me that they will keep Ben a few more days to make sure that all of the fluid in his belly has drained and they are hoping that his bowels will start moving and that some of the bloating will go down. Ben told me he wanted me to bring some of the magazines and newspapers that we have gotten in the mail and read them to him. That's the first time he has asked me to do something like that, so that's another good sign. So today was a "good" day.