Wednesday, April 9, 2008

1 Week Down!

Well, its been a week since Ben's surgery. I keep forgetting to take pictures of him - will have to get something tomorrow. His swelling has gone down - he looked like a lopsided chipmunk for most of the weekend. He is still showing some bruising - I'm sure it would look lots worse if he had light skin tone. Right now he just looks kind of green. He is eating really well - I had to send Rod back to the store the other night because we were running out of his special soft snacks! He is walking lots better and hasn't even been asking for any pain meds. Now it will be hard to keep him from over doing stuff. Bailey, Ethan & Emma are going to start T-ball next week. I'm sure that is going to be hard on Ben. We will have to think up something fun for him to do while they play. Only 5 more weeks of restriction for Ben!!! Hopefully they will go by quickly.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Children's Hospital








Ben came through his surgery with flying colors. The surgeon said everything went very well. He is getting some antibiotics, steroids and some pain meds through an IV so he is still tethered but he is ready to get out of here. He is really sore. We were able to get him up last night and he made several laps around the hospital wing. He was really hungry and ate almost all of the dinner that they brought him last night. Then when we stood him up, he lost it all on the floor of his room!!! After he walked around, he was starving again so I made a few trips to the nourishment room. They have a little room on the hospital floor where they keep things like jello & pudding cups, soup, juice, ice & ice cream. He ate two single servings of chicken noodle soup, two jello cups, two pudding cups, a couple of cups of apple juice and two ice cream cups. The surgery certainly didn't slow down his appetite.
Bailey & Marjie came for a visit. They had a good visit with Chris, Becky & Sarah. Bailey looked worn out. I'm sure she didn't have trouble falling asleep last night. We also went to visit Paul's brother Tom yesterday before Ben's surgery. He is at Virginia Mason. He has been in the hospital pretty much since January. He didn't look too bad. They are hoping that he will be able to go to the hotel close to the hospital in the next week. I'm not sure what his exact diagnosis is but it has to do with his pancreas and the way that the bile is draining. He also has been fighting some infections. I know it is really hard for him to be there - he has always been really active and the farm must be weighing on his mind pretty heavily.
Ben will be getting out of the hospital sometime around noon today. We just have to wait for some prescriptions to be sent in and the doctor needs to sign off on the discharge papers. There is a really cool playroom here and Ben is looking forward to trying it out. The nurses are also looking for a portable game system for him and his roommate. There is a little boy in the other bed here that had some kind of operation on his leg. They have been asking for a game system all morning!!!
Bailey & I took some pictures around the hospital yesterday. They have some really cool sculptures and decorations around the hospital. It doesn't really look that much like a hospital, which is a good thing. It is really welcoming and bright. Not scary!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Seattle




We made it to Seattle. We left Lind at about 2:00. I had a message on the answering machine to call the hospital to get Ben's surgery instructions - it took awhile to get ahold of a real person. His surgery is scheduled for early afternoon tomorrow. That will make for a long morning. He won't be able to eat anything after midnight tonight. He will be one hungry boy!
We are staying at the Silver Cloud Motel next to the UofW campus. It has a pool and vending machines. Both those things are fascinating when you are 6 & 7!!! The kids got in some serious swimming. Sometimes I wonder if they are 1/2 fish. Marjie's friends Chris & Becky are going to come visit tomorrow with their granddaughter Sarah. She and Bailey will have fun in the pool.