Tag: surgery

We haven’t traveled anywhere, but we sure have passed some significant milestones in the past 24 hours. Jacqueline and her Mom stayed here all night at the hospital while the rest of us got some sleep. This morning around 8:00 I got here and later my mom got here and Jacq and Brenda went to get some sleep. Shortly after we took over, the nurses came in with the great news that his hemoglobin had reached a good enough level that he could be taken off of all the monitors and later today be moved to a regular room. He was not a fan at all of them removing all of the stuff, but now he is resting and almost due for some more pain meds. We’ll keep you posted!

The doctor came in just a little bit ago.  The nurse just took out the last tube!!!!  Now if we want to we can walk around with him!!  Benjamin is steadily improving and we can go home today if we want.

Currently Ben is sleeping (yes, Jacq is posting this one:).  So, we have not discussed whether or not to stay another night or go home today.  When I say “go home” I mean go to Ben’s parents’ house.  Thankfully they live here in Winston Salem, so we will go to their house until we feel comfortable enough to head to Asheville.

To clarify…he did have to have the more invasive surgery (better known as the 180 degree switch).  BCBS did not reverse their initial decision.

It is comforting to know that so many people have been praying for him.  We have felt the results of all your prayers. I truly feel like you, as the “body of Christ,” have wrapped your arms around us through this whole journey.  Thank You!

By home, we mean just here in Winston, but it’s a cheaper room to stay in!  We figured that we are the primary caregivers here at the hospital anyway, and so why not take this show on the road.

Thanks for all the prayers.  They worked.  Now pray for Benjamin Sr. for when the bill shows up. z:)

Little Ben was doing so good there for a while that all we had was good news.  But if you’ve been keeping up with the Twitter updates to the right, you know that the last two nights have not been as easy.

It all boils down to the swaddle, if you ask me (which you kinda did by reading my blog).  Up to the surgery, every night Benjamin slept all swaddled up, with his arms pinned to his side.  Since the surgery we’ve had to lay him on his side to sleep, and it’s impossible to swaddle him, since his arms are what keep him from rolling onto his stomach.

Not being swaddled means two things.  Cold hands (which wake him up) and hands/arms that are free to swing around, and make impact with his face (which wakes him up).  We remedied the cold hands aspect of things by putting socks on his hands, but we are still unable to figure out a way to keep him from smacking himself in the head in his sleep.

Two nights ago he maxed out at 2 hours of sleep at one time, and needed to be bounced back to sleep about every hour from about 11:30 on.  My back still hasn’t forgiven me.

Last night he did better, and just needed someone in there patting him on his little rear every so often to keep him asleep.  A two-minute trip into his room was not nearly as taxing on me as an hour-long bouncing session.

Thanks for the prayers.  Please continue to lift us up, and pray that God would give us adequate rest.  He has been so faithful, even in the midst of this, and I am continually reminded that he never promises ease, but instead promises to be with us always.  That’s a better promise!

Also a source for much jubilation and exultation is the fact that Brenda, Jacqueline’s mom is here!  Adding a third person to the rotation is life-changing!