Have we been here before?

Well, talk about ups and downs, and another stressful day. After a fantastic day yesterday, everything started "down the skids" overnight. They had to give Ben blood and determined that he was losing enough that they needed to check the ulcer again.

At 1:00 p.m. they took him in for a scope. They were able to do the scope without intubating, for which we were glad. The ulcer was still bleeding and a few of the clips that they had placed on Monday had come off. They re-clipped, did a bit of cauterizing, and injected some medicine. They thought they had "fixed" the problem. The procedure was long, taking almost three hours.

Unfortunately about an hour and a half after he returned to his room he stooled blood. They turned him to the side to clean him up, and he vomited blood. The good news suddenly turned bad. The doctors made a very quick decision that he need emergency surgery to stop the bleeding.

At 6:00 p.m. he was in the O.R. By 7:30 the surgeon reported to us that they indeed found a major bleed of one of the arteries in the intestinal wall at the point of the ulcer. The hard truth is that Ben was in very serious, life-threatening condition, and it was the aggressive and decisive actions of the nurses, doctors and surgeons which once again saved Ben's life. They were able to keep replacing his blood between his vomiting and getting to the O.R., and so they feel that they averted any permanent damage.

Kim and I returned to his room about 9:00 p.m. He is intubated and will be kept very quiet for the night and into tomorrow. The main things they will be watching for are signs of additional bleeding which could be caused by failure of the stitches; infection which is a heightened risk because the repair involved the "messy" GI system; liver and pancreas blockages because the surgery was near the point where these two organs deposit their waste into the intestinal track; (one other risk, as if those aren't enough, that we can't remember).

The heart surgeon has reported that his heart is doing well. They are of course having to balance which medications they need to give for the GI issues with what needs to be done to keep the heart healthy. I'm sure it will be a dance which will continue for many days.

Kim was at the hospital today, and lived through the trauma of the downturns in Ben's condition. Jon was at the office for meetings and headed to the hospital as soon as they learned of the emergency surgery. Noah and Lydia are with grandpa L at the house. Grandma L is receiving her own treatment overnight at St. Joe's for rehydration, a regular necessity for her health.

We are exhausted and tired of seeing our dear Ben go through such trauma. He has been remarkably strong, cooperative, and loving through this whole ordeal. You, our friends and faith community, are our strength and such significant vessels of God's love. While feeling pretty much beat up at the moment, we are blessed in many ways, and we know it and celebrate it.