Monday Update For Ben

Got to ICU at 9:40 AM. Ben was a little bit awake and I took his hand and told him I was there and he squeezed my fingers. He looked like he is starting to hold some fluids again…not in his belly but in his arms, hands, legs and feet. They are a little bloated. I'm sure this is because his kidneys are not functioning at 100% again. The are giving him drugs to try to make him pee more. This morning his B/P was strange. The top number was very good, but the bottom was very low. His nurse Steve told me that it is much better though. Ben's heart rate was running between 110 and 115, his breathing was running between 25 and 30. His belly does not appear to be bloated now. He had a very low grade fever of 99.3° which Steve called "borderline". The hospital chaplain Robin who was praying with Ben up in DOU came in and prayed over Ben this morning. Robin is really a nice guy. Our social worker Jennifer came in first thing too. She said we were the first on her list this morning. Someone shaved Ben's beard, but he's got a little "Hitler mustache" going on right now. Don't know why they did not shave that off. Steve said that Ben seemed to be gasping for air, so he wanted to let him sleep and try to calm him down some. He remembered that when Ben was in ICU before that I had asked them not to give him too much morphine, so instead Steve game Ben some Ativan. Ben went right to sleep and slept most of the time I was there. They are still lowering the dosage of the blood pressure drugs that help to raise his B/P because it keeps getting better. When I left at 12:30 PM, Ben's B/P was 123/57. His breathing was 23 to 26 (normal is in the mid to high teens). His heart rate was 112 to 115. So he is getting better each day.