Sunday Update For Ben

Not a good day. Ben was awake but very out of it. He told me he was cold even though he had 3 thermal blankets on him. I'm sure that's caused by his anemia. He didn't respond to me much after that. When I got there his vitals were…Heart Rate 96 (this was up from yesterday which is not good). Respiration 24 (also up from yesterday which is not good). Blood Pressure 106/51. Blood Level still 7.5 and as I said, this should be around 11 to 13. His temperature was near normal. They were waiting for a unit of blood to give him which came about an hour after I got there. His nurse Nida told me that his main problem right now is his kidneys. He's still not putting out much urine. His creatinine level is 5.5 milligrams but normal is 0.6 to 1.2 milligrams. His limbs, hands, feet and face looked swollen today from him holding water. Nida told me he is not bleeding from anywhere, but his blood level just does not seem to want to go up. He is not on any pain medications. Dr. Han (ICU doctor) came by to check on Ben. He told me they have called a dialysis doctor to evaluate Ben to see if they need to give him what they called "acute dialysis". From what I've read online acute kidney failure is usually reversible. Dr. Han is very concerned that Ben's stomach is still distended even after the last surgery. They just cannot seem to figure out what is causing this problem. Dr. Rupp (Surgeon) came by. She said that been "doesn't seem to be turning the bend". Didn't like hearing this. Both doctors said that his kidneys are their main concern right now. Ben's B/P kept dropping while I was there. He was not on the B/P supporting drugs. It got down to 66/37, so they ordered another unit of blood, which made two unit today so far. They also put him back on the B/P supporting drugs. These two things brought his B/P back up and they said that if it stayed up, they would take him off the drugs again because the drugs cause organ failure and do not make the kidney problem any better. Nida explained to me in detail what happens when they put a person on dialysis. She said Ben would not be in any pain if and when they do it. She said once they do it, they will continue to monitor his kidneys and blood levels to see if it needs to be repeated. He was so weak today and just starred off into space the entire time I was there. It was all I could do not to fall apart in front of him. I asked when the dialysis doctor would be there, but they didn't know. They even said it might not be until tomorrow, so I left at 1:00 PM and they told me that they would call if there were any changes, plus if the do decide to do dialysis, they will have to get my consent. When I left his vital were…Heart Rate 98, Respiration 32, Blood Pressure 105/53, Temperature 97.6°.