Monday - Quick Update

Ben's still making excellant progress! Again he started with his morning walk, walking almost three times as far as he did yesterday. He found it a lot easier suggesting that he's definitely getting his strength back day by day.

Just to give you an update on his vitals as I know a lot of people are wondering. His mean blood pressure is stable (and back to normal) at around 70-80. His heart rate is still a little quick but a lot better than the previous days at 90. His PEEP is really low at 8.8, this being his experiatory pressure and relates to the earlier issue of his lungs collapsing. The oxygen flow is also down to 30% which is the lowest we've ever seen it. The ventilator of course is still assisting his breathing however, all the breaths Ben takes show up as "spontaneous" meaning they're all his, which is fantastic!

Todays chest xray showed that the condition of the lungs is still continuing to improve. The issue with the lungs "collapsing" is under control and the inflamation is clearing. Also the secretions are quite low resulting in them not doing a Bronch today and opting to do it tomorrow.

Another small hiccup has occured however, with the xray showing signs of emphysema. Don't be worried though it's not to do with the lungs but rather small air pockets that have formed under the skin. This is something that will disappear as Ben gets more exercise.

This afternoon Ben went for a walk outside again! This time earlier in the day so he could catch this afternoons raise. It's a good point to mention that Ben isn't actually doing the "walking" he's just sitting in a wheel chair however, it gives him an opportunity to get some fresh air and see something other than the mundane ICU ward.

Dr Peter Hopkins visited him again just to reiterate how well Ben is doing. He joked about getting him up out of bed and doing another walk to which Ben replied "okay let's do it!", somewhat to the suprise of Peter I'd say. He's obviously very motivated to get better and out of ICU. It looks like this might happen early next week if all goes to plan, fingers crossed!