I was struck today, while driving the two hours home from the hospital, how we can adapt so well. On Sunday, the words “no change” and “still sedated” were scary and had us all jumping at everything. Here we are on Tuesday and there is “no change” and Dad is “still sedated” and yet we have settled in for the long haul and we aren’t so jumpy now. As the doctor said today, there are 3 possiblities and 2 of them are good. Of course we want possiblity 1 – getting better, rapidly and visibly. But we have settled in with possiblity 2 and no change at least means we aren’t looking at possiblity 3 (yet).
They got the lab results back from Sunday and now know what kind of pneumonia to treat in the good lung. The air pocket over the bad lung is a little bit smaller than yesterday which is good. His oxygen level is good and the respirator isn’t at 100% today so he’s breathing some on his own.
The doctor says all of that counts as no change, but we may see some change in the right direction over the next few days. But, lest we get carried away with optimism, the doctor last night reminded us that this will be a long process.
On the positive side, “hospital” schooling has worked pretty well the past two days. Connor has kept up with math, grammar, vocabulary, and writing. We haven’t gotten science started yet and we’re about to redo how we do history. The real positive was that I took along the novel that his dad bought him this weekend and he read almost the whole thing today. He even read while we walked outside to get some sun and kept wandering off to find a quieter place to read. Then when we got in the car to drive home, instead of immediately pulling out his Nintendo DS, he kept reading for about 1/2 the drip home. I was so excited I even settled for driving in silence so the radio wouldn’t bother him. He’s reading!!!! Whoo hoo!
He also got exposure to some “socialization” talking with my cousin and aunt.
We’re staying home tomorrow so we’ll be back to a more normal schedule. I need a little pouch to keep the Nintendo DS and PS2 controller in since I’ve learned that I have to hold them hostage to protect him from himself.
Thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts. They are much appreciated!
Oh, the games. . .if they weren’t sometimes perfect “babysitters” I’d get rid of them altogether.
My kids are limited as well; though they are constantly asking for more time.