Ben's Hospital Stay

My brother Ben is 19 and he just graduated from high school in May.  He is living with us this summer and he will be going to Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs in the fall.  He will be living on campus, but still close.  He's struggled with a chronic vomiting problem for the past year.  Since August 2010, he has lost 90 pounds.  He can swallow just fine, but his food just won't stay down.  Usually during the meal or shortly after the meal, he will have to make a trip to the bathroom to throw up, and occasionally he will throw up an hour or more after mealtime.  He has had countless tests done over the past year to try to determine what the problem is, with absolutely no results.  Every test comes back saying there's nothing wrong.  Finally they told him that it was anxiety manifesting itself through this physical reaction.  He was seeing a therapist in Doha to try to help with the anxiety, and tried to continue phone visits while here in the states, but it is difficult with the time difference and all the busy summer activities. His vomiting has not improved with therapy.

Well, on Sunday night, Ben was up all night throwing up and dry heaving without a break.  He couldn't stop the dry heaving even though there was nothing left for him to throw up.  When Rob and I woke up at about 5:30 Monday morning, we decided to take him to the hospital, and Ben agreed.  We called Teresa to come be with the kids (thank you Teresa, you are the best!), and left for the ER at around 6:30.  I was very worried, and my phone had more usage in a matter of hours than it usually gets in a month.  My mom and my three youngest siblings are visiting Mike and Lacey in Indiana, so she was extremely worried and emotionally upset.  I had to coordinate someone to take Hallie and Claire to swimming lessons, and once they had Ben on an IV and he was sleeping, I actually had to come back home and pick up Evie and get the girls off to swimming.  Evie and I headed straight back to the hospital and stayed there with Ben until he was admitted to the hospital at around 1:00.  Jamie Young and President Kelsey came and gave Ben a much-needed blessing and Jarom Young came and sat with Ben in the afternoon.  I sure appreciated that because I needed to go get my kids and take care of matters at home.  Ben was very tired and slept through most of the day.  He got an IV that helped rehydrate him and "feed" him with nutrients and such. We coordinated with the psychiatrist there and got an appointment set up with him.  They told us they would keep Ben overnight for observation, and so I took the girls back over to visit him that evening.  We counted it as our FHE.  He was grateful for some company.  Tom and Aly Jarvie also came and sat with him Monday night, and Aly returned Tuesday morning.   Tuesday afternoon, we came over to the hospital, and they released him.  He has been put on a high-calorie, high-protein diet, which is the opposite of any other diet you have ever heard of.  Here are a few of the recommendations:

-Enjoy snacks like milkshakes, smoothies, pudding, ice cream, or custard.
-Fry foods in oil, margarine, or butter.
-Use mayonnaise, salad dressing, and peanut butter freely.
-Add butter, margarine, or oil to bread, potatoes, vegetables, and soups.
-Choose drinks like whole milk, juice, or soda pop made with sugar.
-Plain water has no calories. Choose it less often. (what?!)

The list continues on like this for an entire page.  Pretty crazy, huh? They gave us a few high-calorie, high-protein recipes which include pudding, gelatin dessert, custard, eggnog, peanut butter no-bake cookies, and a few others.  Best. Diet. EVER!

Ben has been doing remarkably well since returning home, and hasn't thrown up any of his food to my knowledge (that is an amazing feat for someone who hasn't been able to do that in over a year!).  He has an appointment for an esophogram on Friday to take a look at his esophagus, and an appointment with the psychiatrist tomorrow.  We continue to hope that his recovery keeps improving. We love you Ben!