Ben had his wisdom teeth out yesterday morning.  Short version: it went well and he's doing fine. Long version: Having even a common, simple procedure done with an adult autistic is never easy. It was kind of a stressful day....

I suppose you could argue that last Thursday's final surgery marked the end of the eight-month ordeal of Ben's illness, but for me it was Monday morning that truly signified a return to normalcy. As of this week, Benjamin has returned to school full-time and his mother has returned to work full-time.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:

Today was a milestone day in Ben's recovery from his abdominal surgery. This morning he returned to school for the first time since his surgery on January 31st. He was very happy to be there, and everyone was thrilled to see him. Overall he had a good day, but as expected he ran out of steam before the day was over. He returns to school with several significant limitations: no lifting anything heavier than his lunchbox, no PE or other strenuous tasks, and of course no tickling or poking at his belly. The plan at this point is for him to continue going to school each day and to stay as long as he is physically able without overextending himself. We expect that it will be half days for a while, but for him to improve day by day. There are two and a half weeks left before Spring Break, and ideally he should be back up to speed and attending normal full days by March 31st.

I apologize for the lack of updates, as you can imagine the past few weeks have been long and pretty overwhelming. The good news is that Ben is now back home resting, and thus far it seems like the surgery has been a complete success. He still has a long way to go before he is truly healthy, but hopefully he is done with hospitals and surgeries for a good long while (with one exception, which I will get to in a bit).

Just a short bullet-point update tonight:

· During the surgery on Friday the doctors took a sample of the islets and had a culture done. That culture showed yeast, which apparently happens about 50% of the time. That is the likely culprit for the elevated white cell count. Ben isn't having any visible symptoms of an infection (no fever, fluid in drain is clear, etc.). They put him on antibiotics to treat the infection, and it should not delay his release from the hospital.

Just a short update tonight. The difference between Yesterday-Ben and Today-Ben was really amazing. He still has a long, long way to go, but this afternoon I began to see flashes of the real Benjamin coming through. His walks were longer and more confident, and even when he was sitting he was actually sitting up instead of leaning to the side against a wall. He also listened to his iPod today for the first time since the surgery. Tonight, as I was leaving the room, he had surrounded himself with stuff - his iPad, iPod, DVD player, a book - and was doing his thing where he was watching part of a movie in one language on one device while simultaneously watching a different movie on a second device in an entirely different language. That's Ben.

As with my last post, so as not to bury the lede:  Ben is recovering well from his abdominal surgery, and the doctors are thus far satisfied with how he is doing. His blood work continues to look good, he is making regular trips to the bathroom, and he is making regular walks around the hospital floor. So far everything looks good.

I don't want to bury the lede, so here's the big bullet point:  Ben had his abdominal surgery today, and it appears to have been a complete success. He is currently resting in his hospital bed, and thus far everything looks good.