Saturday (Surgery) Update For Ben

Ben's sister (Donna), niece (Beth) and I got to the hospital around 6:30 AM. We had to be there before 7:00 AM so I could sign the surgical consent papers. When we got there I asked Ben if they had told him he was going in for surgery today and he said no. I did not go into detail with him, but just told him that they were going to do the surgery to get rid of the blockage in his colon and he said "good". We sat with him until 8:00 AM when they took him downstairs to the OR. His sister and niece went to the waiting room and I went with Ben down to OR until they took him in and then I went out to the waiting room. Ben's brother showed up awhile later and my friend Judy Arbogast also showed up to wait with us. The surgery took about 2 hours. Dr. Rupp (surgeon) came in and she told us that Ben had Diverticular Disease. I already knew he had diverticulitus. I have researched this condition online. It is when there is inflammation of the diverticula. This causes erosion of the diverticular wall due to increased pressure in the gut. Dr. Rupp said that this condition causes Ben's colon and bladder to be pushed together causing a blockage in his intestines. She had to remove the last part of his lower intestines and attach a colostomy bag to him. Also, when they opened him up and removed all of the fluid that was in his belly, this cause his blood pressure to drop drastically so they had to stabilize him in Recovery before Lanny (Ben's brother) and I could go in to see him and before they could send him down to ICU to recover. She also told us that the next few days will be extremely critical for him, but she seemed cautiously optimistic. When we were allowed to go in and see him in recovery, his eyes were open and he was moving around. I took his hand and told him to squeeze my finger if he could hear me and he did. He also tried to talk to us a little and was able to "croak" a few words out. They moved him down to ICU around 2:15 PM. Donna and Beth had already left to attend Donna's grand-daughter's birthday party and Lanny left around 2:30 PM. It took them another 45 minutes to get Ben hooked up to everything in ICU and ready for me to come in and see him. I got in to see him just before 3:00 PM. He was still moving around and he looked at me when I came in. I told him that I was just checking on him before I left to go home because it had been an extremely long day for me and I had not gotten any sleep last night, so I needed to get home and rest. He croaked "Go Home" to me, so I kissed him, told him I loved him and he said "I love you too" and I left to come home.