End of Tuesday Night....

Well, we were told that the second and third days of Ben's journey would be the worst...we are starting to see that. We are still being encouraged not to talk to him or touch him, since it is too stimulating for him to handle.

As of 8 pm, Ben had the fluid drained off of his brain twice more. We are happy to see that his heart and lungs are strong and functioning correctly. Praise the Lord! However, they attempted to feed him through a tube in his mouth and it was not successful. Ben didn't receive the food well - probably because it looks like brown paste and is dripping through a tube in his mouth.

At 9:20 pm he had another drain - then they had to drain again at 9:35 pm. We were told that the maximum amount of swelling would occur during the second and third days of Ben's battle. We are seeing their predictions right now. But we have not lost hope at all...our Ben has already overcome a blood clot on the right side of his brain and has made it 32 hours without having to have a major surgery! He has already made small steps toward recovery and we are waiting patiently to see even more!

A great saying I always think of when something hard comes along in life, my uncle marks nurses had given him a sign when he was battling cancer, and it fits perfectly along with Ben also!

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog!"

Keep praying everyone!
We are at the hotel room for the night and we'll be returning to the hospital in the morning! I will keep everyone updated!

Update on Ben!!

Ben did well overnight. They had to drain the blood from his brain twice. And they took him off of his sedatives so he can unfortunetly feel the pain but we are told that is a "good thing". We weren't allowed to see him from 12-3 today because they were going to have to drain the brain again around 2. My uncle Tom, ben's dad, went in at one point and was talking to him like we had been doing since we have been allowed to see him because they say even when unconcious he can still here us. But when my Uncle went in there to talk to him it caused the brain swelling to shoot up. (The number we are looking at for the brain swelling is between 1 and 25. If the numbers go up and stay up between 17 and 25 for 5 minutes they have to drain the brain.) So right now the nurse has asked us not to talk to him or touch him because it causes to much of a stimulus.She said that right now the best way she could describe what Ben was feeling was like a migraine. She said that when someone has a migraine they want all the lights off, don't want to be around anyone, and don't want to hear anything or be touched. While it is hard for us to stare at him through the glass and not be in the room with him anymore, we know that it is best for Ben right now. They have started feeding him through a tube today, so that's good. The waiting room receptionist said she has never seen so many people come through to visit someone like Ben has had...he has no enemies in the world! It is going to be a slow process and a lot of waiting, but we are all praying for the best.

Thank you for continuing to pray and believe that God can work miracles. He has made it 27 hours now. We have been told that the first few days will be the most rough, and the most critical.

Keep Praying!!

Please Pray!

My cousin Ben was in a motorcycle accident yesterday afternoon in Carbondale. He was going a little fast around a curve and lost control. Thank god he was riding with a friend and an ambulance was called right away. They life lined him to Evansville where we were told there wasn't much of a chance because of the blood clot in his brain and the swelling. His brain stem is also bruised. But about an hour later they did a reassement before surgury and the blood clot had dissappeared and the swelling hadn't gotten any worse since he'd been there so he was just put on a monitor to watch the swelling. They say these next two days are going to show whether or not the brain will swell. And he is still not awake due to the bruised brain stem. My cousin has a long road ahead of him! Please pray for his healing!! I got to see him right before we left yesterday and he actually looks good no scraps or anything on his face or body really just a gash in his leg/ankle... which is taken care of. He's a strong person and will pull through this just keep him in your thoughts and prayers! I will keep everyone updated as time goes on! It's just a waiting game now!

Birthday Wishes... a little late!

In the past month or so there have been a few birthdays that I haven't mentioned!

The most recent was my Aunt Kims!! And we celebrated in style.. :) Me, Samee, Sus, mom, and aunt kim all went out to eat. Here is mom and aunt kim at stables for after dinner drinks and dessert! Happy Birthday Aunt Kim! You are very special to me! Love you! Sus... being a dork at olive garden! lol

Me and Samee and our fruity drinks! I don't remember what they were called but it was a very good choice Samee!!

When they brought out my second drink he didn't bring a little straw so I stuck my big straw in there and we all thought it was pretty funny at the time and it deserved a picture! :)

Samee, Sus, and Me enjoying drinks and dessert at Stables!!

Me and Mom at Stables!

Also recently these two pretty little girls celebrated birthdays!! Alex celebrated hers in February and Callista just a few weeks ago... So Happy Birthday Girls! Love you!

AND... Syd celebrated her 11th birthday a few weeks ago also! So Happy Birthday Syd!! Love you very much!!

Last Call...

So... last night I worked from 6 to close... like I do every sunday. Sometimes I get to close early if no one is inthere but we were steady all night... so at about 10 till one I caled last call, got everyone there drinks, and continued to clean the backbar so I could get out of there as soon as we closed. I look up and 2 guys and a girl walk in. The first guy... I would say he is about 24 or so sits down and says i need three coors lights... he was already drunk so I said sorry I've already called last call and I'm closing in 5 minutes. Starts cussing and yelling, and then the next guy oh i'd say 45 or so starts screaming and cussing saying it was bs that they couldn't get served wouldn't stop yelling. (So at this point i should have called the police...but i just wanted to go home so i freakin served them) Did they stop being rude... Nope!! OH... and the women with them apoligized once and the older man was like don't freakin apoligize to her its her freakin job!! That pissed me off! So a few people I know from Effingham were in there and they were just like stop yelling and cussing dude she served you be happy... So the younger guy gets all cocky and telling them (which are two girls and a guy i might add) that he's going to kick there ass!

So finall 1 am... i flip on the lights and don't even tell them to leave yet i finished my cleaning and was going to let them sit there till i was done... BUT no... the stupid girl that was with them has to mouth off and scream "Now this is when you call last call, serve us again." I turned around and was like EVERYONE OUT!!! The older guy tipped me a quarter, I said sir you can keep that I wouldn't want to put you out of anything! HA

So they walk out the front, and the other three and myself walk out hte back. So we're talking about what just happened and the younger guy comes running at us screaming and so i was like screw it... I called the police! And by this time the other guy and girl had made it over there and then about 6 cops pull up and surround them it was cool! lol

And the best part, the cop gave me the option of banning them from the bar! Ha... that'll teach you to scream at the bartender!

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

So the past month or so I've noticed how tired I've been, and so I cut back on going out during the week because I am working more so I just assumed I'm needing more sleep. But that didn't really help because I would still stay up late sometimes even at home, so I started going to sleep earlier but I still was having a really hard time getting up in the morning. Now I'm not saying that I used to like getting up in the morning or anything but I was alwasy pretty good about getting up on time. Anymore... I just hit snooze. And now I can hardly stay out past 10:00 pm on the weekends... I'm thinking what is going on? I'm 19! 3 months ago I was staying out til wee hours of the morning on a friday night and then getting up and going to work the next day.

So I got to thinking about what is really going on, because I've slept plenty to be able to catch up on the sleep I may have missed by doing to much partying. So I googled! :) And Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is what I have come up with! And I have always had neck and back problems but I have def. noticed an increase in the pain in them the past month or so. So that's my conclusion, which sucks because from my research there is nothing you can do except de-stress your life!

So if anyone has suggestions on what I should try next, let me know! I'm up for anything! Just sick of being so tired all the time!!

Update on The Office!

It's about 12:45 and I've just recently got home from working at the office tonight. I went in a little early today and worked some extra hours which is always good... more money!! But we also closed early... which is fine cause I was tired!! But i'm getting closer to having enough to buy me a new vehicle! I can't wait!! Anyways I know alot of people have been saying there are going to get over there and see me but really how many people go out on a sunday night or monday... so I thought I'd let everyone and anyone know I'm working my first Saturday night on March 28th.... COME SEE ME! :) So anyways... I'm going to bed! Everyone have a good week!!