{Day 7}

Sorry this post comes so late, but it is has been a very long day. Good news -- Ben is off the ventilator and that went very well this morning. Not so good news -- He is working very hard to breathe. His breath counts are extremely high. The doctors and nurses are working hard to keep him comfortable and taking other measures (breathing treatments, suctioning, high-flow oxygen, etc) to keep from reintubating him. We are going to remain in the ICU until he becomes more stable. The highlight of the day is seeing him open his eyes and when I finally got to hold him after 7 long days.  Here are a few pictures of the day....

The doctors and nurses extubating Ben

 

The first time I got to hold Ben

I pretty much had a meltdown at about 6:00 pm today.  It had been building over the past 2 days or so and erupted tonight.  I think exhaustion of staying at the hospital for the past 7 days and getting only about 3 - 4 hours of sleep a night set in.  I am so overwhelmed with worried and saddened that Ben is still so sick.  So I was sent away.  Chat told me that I had to leave the hospital for at least 2 hours or else.  Chat had my dad pick me up since he didn't think it was safe for me to drive.  I had not seen Luke since Tuesday and that was only for about an hour then.  It was hard to leave, after spending a little bit of time with Luke, getting to shower and wash my clothes (I won't share how dirty I was and how my clothes were starting to smell), I felt better so I headed back up to spend the night with Ben again.  I am still exhausted but my mind is much clearer and I feel like I have a better handle on the situation.

 

Until tomorrow...