Ben Continues to do Well - Except Sleeping at Night!

Ben continues to do well - except sleeping at night. AUGH!! One of the medications he is on makes him restless at night. So we'll just have to wait this out.

Ben had two doctor appointments yesterday. The first was his annual cardiologist appointment. If you recall, when Ben was born he had a small "hole" in his heart. It is common and the doctors were not that concerned, saying that many times, these holes heal/close by themselves over time.

The hole is still there, (even though there is no blood going through it) but the cardiologist is not concerned. The hole may still close up by itself over the coming years. Worst case scenario would be if the hole is still there when Ben is about 5 or so, they would go up through an artery in his groin and fix it and he would be home that same day. So, not a big deal.

Ben also saw his pediatrician who wanted to check up on him since he has been home. He thought things are going well too. We will have to keep up the nebulizer treatments until his "cough" goes away, though, and we are not sure how long that will be.

All-in-all, though, he is a little lethargic from all the medications, but happy and doing well.

Praise God!

Ben is Doing Great!

Ben is doing great! He has oral medication he takes every 8 hours and uses a nebulizer for breathing treatments 4 times a day (every six hours). His coughing still sounds atrocious, but that is supposed to clear up this week. He's eating well, playing well, and smiling, so we're happy.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Benjamin is evidence that He hears and answers them!

He's Home & Happy!

He's home and happy! - We're getting his medications. We have to administer his medicated breathing treatment every 4-6 hours (even through the night) and the rest of his meds. are oral.

He will go back to the doctor for a checkup on Monday to see how things are.

Peace!

He's Coming Home!

Just got the call: HE'S COMING HOME!!! - PRAISE GOD!!!

Ben is Off of the Oxygen Tent & the IV

God is good! - Ben is off of the oxygen tent and the IV (though he still has the IV lock, just in case he needs to go back to it).

They have been observing him today to see how this goes. We are still waiting to hear, though, whether or not he will get to come home tonight or we will have to wait until tomorrow. - We had hoped to hear by now, but we will just wait and see. Even when he does come home, we have some medications he will need to take orally as well as a machine that we will put medicine in and give periodic "breathing treatments". It is a simple thing and won't take much to do and it will help Ben, so it is a good thing.

A couple of other "wrenches" in things:

1. This morning, mom had a fever. She has been running it all day today, so she isn't able to see Ben as we don't want him exposed.
   


2. The hospital administration office called us and said our insurance had expired! -- It hadn't, but there has been an huge blunder by our Health Plan Provider (not Trinity) in the transfer from Orlando. This will take some time to sort out. If other businesses were run like this...!

Keep checking here for updates.

REQUESTS:

• That Benjamin gets to come home as soon and as safely as possible.
  


• That mom gets well.

News - Not All Good

Well, there's a lot of news, and that's not necessarily good.

Jennifer, Daniel, and I are well and feeling good, but Benjamin is a different story. This last Monday the little guy had his 1st birthday (yea!). On Tuesday, he had his one year doctor's checkup. He did fine, except that he had been fighting croup. However, that night, he was doing a lot worse. He could only sleep for about 10 minutes at a time and his breathing was very difficult. His breathing was difficult, his heart was racing, he had a fever, and his breathing had a "gurgling" sound to it. -- Not good.

Yesterday Jennifer took Ben back to the doctor who admitted him to the hospital. He is in an oxygen tent and has an IV with fluids and antibiotics. An X-Ray showed that he does have pneumonia as we feared. (Which he probably picked up from dad who had it again the week before.)

He is getting better, but it will take a little time. We hope he will come home either tomorrow or, at the latest, Saturday.

We are blessed, however, that Scott's parents drove in yesterday afternoon for a visit for almost a week, so we have extra help as well as good visitors. - Praise God!

We'll keep ya posted.

REQUESTS:

• That Benjamin gets and stays well.


• That the rest of us continue to have the strength (and sleep) needed.

Dad Got a Job!

Dad got a job!

The Lord certainly answers prayer! Within two weeks, dad got a new job with 21st Century Equipment in a very small town in Iowa, about 50 miles from where they live in Manchester. That means there will be a commute some days, but at least they don't have to move. Please say a prayer of thanks for this great news!

YEA, GOD!

REQUESTS:

• That we all get and stay well.


• The whole family has been fighting sicknesses of different sorts for the past week or so.