Surgery

Ben had surgery on Thursday...here are the details.

Why: He has had these horrible attacks for nearly four years. Lately, they have been happening at least once a month. The week before surgery, he had two. The attacks last about 12 hours and involve lots of pain, throwing up, nausea, exhaustion and flu like symptoms.

What: There is a tube called the ureter that goes from your kidney to your bladder. Ben's is being pinched off due to a random blood vessel that is in the way. Therefore, his kidney can get up to almost 4 times its normal size and has been slowly dying.

The fix: Cut the ureter and connect it to a better place away from the blood vessel.


How it all went down: They used a robot, which malfunctioned in the first hour of surgery. The surgeon was on the phone with customer service trying to fix his robot for AN HOUR while Ben lay there out cold on the table. Nice.

Robot was fixed and surgery went well until it was time to put the stint in. The stint wouldn't go in. It took a few tries.

After 5 hours, of what was supposed to be a 3 hour ordeal, the surgeon talked to me and said that they may have to repeat the surgery the next day if the stint wasn't in the right place. I begin to freak out in all sorts of ways.

Ben goes to recovery and I don't see him for another hour.

Finally I see Ben. He is totally out of it and very uncomfortable. There is a tube about 1/2 inch thick coming out of his stomach and his stomach looks like he just got out of a gang fight with big knives. It made me so sad to see him like that.


Under that patch is an amazing hole that the tube was in.


Ben gets a CT scan that reveals that all is well with the stint...no surgery the next day. We all celebrate!!! Ben gets some jello for dinner.

I stay with Ben as late as I can and then head home. Ben has a rough night and doesn't get much sleep. He does get some morphine though. ;) I try to help the kids get a good sleep and explain what is going on.

I get back to Ben in the morning. They wait until after lunch and decide he is good to go. They pull the 8 inches of tube out of Ben's stomach. Holy Moly! They unhook him and send us home.

Ben is now home and doing o.k. He has been King Itchy due to his drugs, so we are trying something new. He is very sore, but can kind of get around if he has to.
His kidney is 75% dead and there is nothing that can be done. However, the 25% that is working should be good to go now. His other kidney will make up for everything. Bodies are so amazing. He is one tough guy and I feel for him. Surgery is no fun. He is being a good sport though.

Many thanks to Adri and my visiting teachers (and to Colleen for being on call and ready to help on her Birthday). We would not have been able to do this without your help.

We are now surviving the best we know how. I am hanging by a very small thread, but somehow pulling through. I am failing in many areas (like my patience and exhaustion), but trying my best. The pregnancy pains and fatigue, last minute Christmas madness, the kids that are totally out of whack, keeping it all together by myself, and trying to be there for my husband, can feel like a heavy load, but we just have to survive one more week until we can get to our families and hopefully get some much needed rest.

Thanks for all your prayers, I know they were heard.

Here's to a speedy recovery! I love you Ben.