Update On Benjamin

Well, This is the story today on Ben...

Ben in back in the ICU for at least a few more days, maybe more, who knows right now. The resection surgery where they removed the temperal lobe and a few other parts of the brain began to swell alot on Saturday. The surgical site is infected. The infection type is related to MRSA they are calling it ORSA basically the same, so I am told! He is stable. He is in a lot of pain and that pain is not under control. The infecous control team of doctors said that his infection was in fact quite bad. We asked them to give a 1 to 10 scale based on their experience and they gave him a 8. Not super good but there was still room on the scale for worse! The infection was on both sides of the bone covering the brain. They are afraid that the bone might not be able to be saved. WE are NOT focusing on that right now we are going with the idea that the surgery and meds are going to fix this and will not even go into the mess that might happen IF the bone can not be saved. The doctors are thinking that he will be on IV antibiotics for a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks. So we are happy that we did not wait until our scheduled appointment to have Benjamin have examined. He is also having trouble with high blood pressure so we are on a drip for that as well. He is currently still having seizures. In fact I had to stop writing to go and help with one... Not so sure we are getting the best result yet from the surgery... We will keep our fingers crossed that we see improvement. He had a PICC (periferal inserted central catheter) it is a special kind of IV that goes into the vein and runs into the chest cavity intil it hits a main artery. That way they can give more things in the IV site and at higher doses. He will be leaving the hospital with this in place (with any luck) and that is how the IV will be able to go home with us! We hope that it stays in place so we do not have to get another one! He is not breathing well at this point so we have in on oxygen. He is not eating now so he is getting tube feeding that goes thru a NG tube in his nose and we also give the PO (by mouth) meds thru that line. That way we are not fighting with him to take the meds like we had to last time...That was a JOKE! They are doing everything that they can. He is very sick but not fatal. SO we are blessed. It could have been worse!

Thanks to all who are praying for us I truely feel like we are being strenghened and held together by the power of prayer.