The Puddles

Daddy came up for a visit. That was the best part of the day. Ben and Dad got to hang out all evening while I got to leave the hospital for a little while. It gave Ben a break from Mom, and it gave an opportunity for the boys to get some fun in while I was away. They built snap circuits, got some walking in, and won a guitar signed by somebody famous (we can’t read the signature so we aren’t sure who). 

By the time I got back they had started Ben on one of his IV meds and he was started to get really agitated and restless. Chris and I convinced him that we needed to get the nurse and he just cried. He didn’t want to get a new IV. One of the last ones that they put in hurt so badly. It was terrible. It went bad in 12 hours and then the anesthesiologist put another one in yesterday morning while Ben was under. It finally went bad today. The VAT team came in and put anther line in and within 5 minutes the line became infiltrated. His hand and forearm are now so swollen. The VAT team decided to put one in his other arm. I haven’t seen Ben that miserable, upset , and in pain in a long time. It broke my heart. He just covered his head with his blanket and cried. Thank goodness that Dad stuck around for the new IV. It really helped Ben deal with the pain. So for those keeping score Ben has been here since Monday and he is on his sixth IV. That doesn’t count all of the other blood draws that he has had in other places or the IVs and pokes from his last two hospital stays. This poor guy has had enough. 

So we have seen his main doctors two other times since my earlier post. Dr. Simms and Nurse practitioner Ms. Renna Lange have been his main cardiology team this week and we are so blessed to have these two. They are soft spoken and have a very calming presence. When Ben said today (with 8 doctors in the room) that he didn’t understand what they were saying, Ms. Lange said she would come back and explain everything and she and Dr. Simms both did exactly that. That was so nice and meant a lot to me, because so often the translation  of the medical jargon is left up to me. 

Tomorrow we have a day full of testing. He is going to have two CT scans. One of his sternum and one of his sinuses. Because of his kidneys, he started a 12 hour IV fluid and some medication tonight to protect his kidneys from the contrast that they will give him tomorrow. After the CT, he will have an ultrasound of his abdomen looking for any pockets of fluid and infection. Between the blood work that they took tonight and the testing tomorrow, hopefully they will find the answers that they are looking for. 

We pray for answers so the doctors can construct an appropriate course of  action to treat Ben’s illness.  So that we can then go home and try to return our life back to normal.