The Answer to What’s Going on with Big Ben

Last Monday, Big Daddy had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.  It was a planned surgery and what we thought would have a relatively easy recovery.

Because of how late Ben’s surgery was and that his surgeon was not able to do the surgery laproscopically, he was admitted to St. Luke’s and we figured we would go home the next day.  Unfortunately, his recovery was tough.  It took a long time for his bowels to start moving and to get his pain under control.  By Wednesday, we were headed home and on our way to recovery.

Fast forward to Monday, and Ben was feeling better.  He went to work for a half day and then to his doctor’s office to have his drain tube removed.  We were happy with how things were going and while he was still tender, thought we were past the most difficult parts of his surgery.  I proceeded with being a mom of many…running errands, getting dinner ready, and teaching music classes I had rescheduled from the week before.

I came around the corner in my room and Ben was wrapped in a blanket.  Ben is NEVER cold…that’s my role in our relationship 🙂  I scrambled for the thermometer and he had spiked a 101 fever.   I left a message for the surgeon’s answering service and lifted up his shirt to inspect his surgery sites.  BRIGHT red! DANG IT!  I had seen this before with our Bridger when his feeding tube got infected. So off to the ER we went.

Warning…photos of a post surgery tummy to follow. Really…warning if you are squeamish.

Scans, blood work and many hours later, we were assured that the oral antibiotics we were going home with would do the trick and that the infection was most likely superficial.  Ben seemed to rebound a little on Tuesday morning and we followed up with the doctor.

Last night, around 6:30pm, Ben spiked another fever and said he had the worst headache of his life.  Then, he started to dry heave.  (He had surgery several years ago that makes it impossible to throw up.)  We called the PA on call and were basically told to wait it out and that things should settle down.  After a night of no relief for the headache, sweating through clothes faster than I can wash them, and no relief from the headache, he headed back to the doctor.

We’ve been admitted and hoping for some answers and relief.  His surgeon is great and actively working to get Ben better.  Unfortunately, his tummy is “angry”, a term used to describe how his rash looks and that it is rapidly spreading.  Now, it is around the surgery site, which is dangerous because it can infect the mesh that was used to repair the hernia to begin with.  So for now, we are hoping and praying that scans and blood work will give us good answers and something to swing at that doesn’t include opening up the surgery site.  We are most likely dealing with MRSA, a potentially dangerous antibiotic resistant staph infection.

Here is a picture of his tummy today.  The marked areas are where the infection was previously.  The red areas outside of those marked spots are where the infection has spread.

We need prayers friends.He has had a blessing and his name is on the rolls of the Temple.  We have truly felt your love and concern for our family this past week and know that Heavenly Father has heard our pleadings.  MRSA is ugly and it’s dangerous.  Our wish for Thanksgiving is that we can get ahead of it and be back on the road to recovery.

From the land of chaos AND HOPE,

~ B