Roller Coaster

This place is a roller coaster ride - down this morning but up this afternoon.

This morning Ben was struggling more to breathe; therefore, they determined that he needed a C Pap (which basically delivers oxygen at a higher level). They were debating putting him on the venitlator again but decided to try this first. It did the trick and now his oxygen levels are good. They gave him a feeding tube this afternoon and he is now taking breast milk through the tube. So far so good with that. I was really glad that he got that because he was hungry.

He does have a blood clot in his leg where they have inserted his IV. He will have to take blood thinners for this for probably 4 weeks but drs are not too concerned. Whenever we get to leave here they will send home injections of the thinner for us to administer. They are taking this IV out tomorrow and giving him a pic line in his arm for him to receive his antibiotics.

But the great news of the day is that they have diagnosed him with pnemonia instead of meningitis. Yesterday, they made the meningitis diagnosis with just the preliminary tests. After all the cultures came back and were analyzed by the infectious disease team the specialists determined it was pnemonia. The antibiotics are the same as what he was already receiving. We were very happy with the news. That is what we were hoping they would tell us yesterday.

We still have no idea how long he will be in ICU or even here at Riley's but things are looking better. I know he still has a long road ahead but he is getting stronger all the time. Thanks again everyone.