An update on Ben

As I wrote previously, Benjamin Paul Larson was born 3/24/11 at 12:29pm at Jordan Valley Hospital. He weighed 8lb 7oz and was 20" long.  He spent the first few minutes with his mom, dad, grandma and papa and then was taken to the nursery for his first bath with daddy.

(Grammy LeAnn and Ben)

Shortly after entering the nursery, Ben began having a lot of trouble breathing. He was quickly whisked away to the NICU to meet with a wonderful team of nurses and doctors that would help him out. 

Ben had Hemorrhagic  Pulmonary Hypertension (which means the blood pressure in his lungs was too high, causing him to bleed into his lungs). He quickly developed pneumonia, and then the infection went systemic. After a few hours in the NICU, the doctor decided Ben was too sick for their level of expertise, and arrangements were made to LIFEFLIGHT him to Primary Children's Hospital.

The NICU doctor (left) with two members of LIFEFLIGHT working on Ben.

NICU staff and LIFEFLIGHT staff working on Ben.

Transferring Ben into the mobile incubator.

The LIFEFLIGHT pilot, Paul, happened to be LDS, and assisted me in giving Ben a priesthood blessing before his flight. Then they buttoned everything up, and headed for the helipad.

Ben is now in the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital. His lungs aren't working well enough, and so they are using a surgical procedure where they are removing Ben's blood in a catheter to go through a machine that then oxygenates the blood for him, and then returns the blood. This is called Extracorporeal Mechanical Oxygenation or ECMO.

The procedure was started this morning about 3am, and so far he has stabilized.

I am so grateful for the excellent care Ben has been given so far, and I pray that he will be ok.

-Papa Bear

Benjamin Paul Hansen

My grandson Ben was born today, 3/24/11 @ 12:29pm. He was born with an infection in his lungs that went systemic. He has been transferred to Primary Children's Hospital ICU. Please pray for him.

-Papa Bear
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28 Mile Ride

I did a training ride today. It had 20+ MPH winds for most of the ride, along with some SERIOUS hills. I did 28 miles (27.81) in 2 hours 14 minutes.  What a great training ride! I burned over 1400 calories in that one ride!

-PB

90.12 Miles

The rehab on my knee is going well. I have ridden 90.12 miles so far this month, and I'm only half-way through the month. My brother-in-law Jeff and his neighbor Dave joined me on my ride to the train this morning. That was fun! I like having someone else along, if just for the motivation it gave me to get out there this morning.  I couldn't just be lazy and say "forget it, I'm driving" when I have two other people waiting on me!

This morning's ride was nice and easy as Dave hasn't been riding much yet, and needs to get into riding mode again. It took about 5 minutes longer to ride, but that's not too bad!

I also have another small injury that I'm dealing with at the same time. I thought I was going to be out again for a while. My grandson Adam left one of his toys on the stairs, and I found it... barefoot... in the dark. I thought I might have broken something with the pain, but the x-rays are negative. The doctor says I pulled a ligament in my foot, and it will hurt for the next 6 weeks or so.

So, my right foot is wrapped in an ace bandage to keep the compression on it. The foot actually hurts LESS when I'm riding than when I'm walking, so that's not too big a problem. Mostly it just affects my work because I'm on my feet most of the day, however, it's not so bad that it keeps me from working.

-PB

Funny!!!

Get Fuzzy is a funny cartoon most days, but this one was fantastic!

(Click the picture for a larger version)
-PB

Ride Log

This is a picture of my cycling log for this month (so far). I've only been back on the bike for a couple of weeks, and I already have 75 miles logged. As you can see, a lot of my daily rides are broken up into different sections. That's due to a problem with the mapping program. It won't allow me to ride to traxx, stop tracking until I get to the U, then start up again. They have to be separate rides.  No biggie.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat		Stats
	27	28	3.56 mi 1	0.86 mi 4.27 mi 13.63 mi 2	10.3 mi 3	4	5		32.62 mi +595%
	6	4.27 mi 0.86 mi 4.57 mi 7	8	4.27 mi 4.49 mi 0.86 mi 9	4.6 mi 1.67 mi 12.98 mi 10	11	12		42.33 mi +29%
	13	14	15	16	17	18	19		0 mi -100%
	20	21	22	23	24	25	26		0 mi No Change
	27	28	29	30	31	1	2		0 mi No Change

Bike Ride

74.96

Total Miles

6.28

Total Hours

15

Workouts

3,854

Total Calories

I am hoping to get 300 miles this month, and then kick it up to 400+ for April. By May 1st, I want to be riding the entire 13+ miles to work, then doing 25+ after work 3 time per week. I will also be adding long weekend rides to get more time in the saddle.

The Cycle Salt Lake Century comes up on May 21st, so I have a ways to go until I'm ready.

-PB

Snow Dump

This huge pile of snow is over 12 feet high. It came from clearing the parking lot where I work.

Yesterday morning, there was clear ground, the grass could be seen, and although it was cold, it was clear.  By the time I rode home, it was pouring rain. Within a few hundred yards, I was soaked to the skin, and within 4 miles it started snowing... HARD.

I awoke to nearly 8 inches in my driveway.

You just gotta love spring in Utah!

-PB

Totally wimped out

Yeah, that's right. I'm a wimp. 

I worked yesterday, then went straight to the theater and did a show. I was up from 4am until about 10:30pm, and when I woke up this morning I just didn't have the chutzpah to get kitted up and face the wind on the bike.

So I went back to sleep for another half-hour, and woke up feeling MUCH better about life.

Yeah, I spent extra money driving to work today instead of riding. Yeah, I'm going to have to make up the miles on Sunday after church. But, hey, as I said before... I'm a wimp.  I just gave in to the need for sleep, AND I"D DO IT AGAIN, DANG IT!!! 

Oh, well.  Back to work. And back on the saddle tomorrow!!!!

-PB

March Beauty

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My ride today...

Here's a LINK to a map of the route I rode.  (just for fun)

Off and on rain, but fun!
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