Ben

Today we made the trip to Riley Hospital in Indy. Ben had an ultrasound, followed by an upper GI procedure that involved a scope. He was anesthetized forthe procedure. He was a little nervous about it, and so were we. The good news is that they did not find anything abnormal. The bad news is that they did not find anything abnormal. I guess we were hoping we could find something that was causing the problem, something that could be fixed.

The surgeon was very good and took her time talking to us. During the procedure, she inserted a small chip that will measure Ben's stomach acid. For 48 hours he has to wear a little computer to monitor the activity. He has a button to push when he feels pain. He also has to keep a complete list of everything he eats and drinks.

The doc said about 15% of people have pain like Ben has and never find out what the problem is. She said that people his age often "outgrow it," which is what I hope happens. Soon. She said he is good to work toward bulking up for football with weight lifting and an appropriate diet for gaining weight. We'll focus on that.

She did take 3 biopsies, which is standard procedure, but she does not expect them to reveal anything unusual. They said Ben was a good patient, and we left the hospital around 1. Ben had not eaten since last night around 10, so he was hungry. We made our way over to PF Changs and ate. Now we are back home and settling in for a nice quiet evening.

Tomorrow: back to Indy.