Good News/ Bad News

The good news is that Oliver slept in his crib for most of the night. He was in bed with me from midnight to 3am, but otherwise he was in the crib. I went to bed at 8pm and over a span of 10 hours got 6 hours of sleep. I feel much better today. Yesterday I wasn't given a guest tray at lunch. I asked the nurse about it, and she said that aside from nursing moms, parents usually only get a guest tray at breakfast. It was one thing to skip lunch yesterday. I wasn't up for skipping lunch and dinner, so when a nurse came in to do his vitals at 4pm, I asked if I could leave and get something to eat since I hadn't eaten since breakfast. There are several restaurants very close to the hospital. I opted to go to Subway instead of the hospital cafeteria. Although it broke my heart to see Oliver crying and reaching his hands for me when I was leaving his room, it was refreshing for me to be out of the room for ten minutes. They did give me a tray at lunch today (everything smothered in gravy again), but I ate the fruit and vegetables and part of Oliver's cookie, so I'm not starving. This morning I got my shower before he woke up, but I didn't have any clean clothes to put on as Paul didn't come out to the hospital yesterday. I need him to bring me some clean clothes this evening for tomorrow and also give him the circus tickets so he can take the kids to the circus tomorrow.

The bad news is that Nadia has finally succumbed to the bug and has developed a cough, but so far neither Ian or Nadia have had a fever today. Ian is eating yogurt and taking his antibiotic twice a day. My dad was given some medications yesterday. My mom is driving back to Maryland this evening. Paul doesn't teach on Fridays. We are very thankful that she was willing to come up here and help us out this week! Paul's dad helped out yesterday afternoon by taking Ian to the pediatrician and later he took Nadia to her gymnastics class. My parents had planned to come up on Sunday for Easter dinner and spend the night to celebrate my birthday on Monday, but those plans have been cancelled due to my dad's health (and my kids' germs also). We're in "wait and see mode" as to whether Paul's side of the family can come up on Sunday. I am doubtful that the kids will be healthy by then, and we don't want to expose Paul's mom or grandmother to their germs. Paul's mom is starting an eight week treatment for her lymphoma next Wednesday. I told the babysitter that we won't be able to go out on Saturday night for our dinner and ballroom dancing birthday date because of the kids' health. We'll have to try again some other month. Paul hasn't decided yet whether or not to cancel his interview in West Virginia. He hasn't been inclined to interview anywhere that involves a move in light of the fact he's not sure he wants to teach for more than one more year, and now that Oliver is in the hospital he's even less inclined to drive down there on Sunday. He's currently scheduled to interview there on Monday. I did submit two more applications for him yesterday to two schools that are 1.5-1.75 hours away from our house.

The worst news is that Oliver took a turn for the worse during the night. He started to need a LOT more oxygen during the night and twelve hours later that hadn't changed much. The doctor ordered another x-ray this morning. Oliver didn't mind the x-ray on Monday night when he was lying on a table, but today they had him sitting on a bicycle seat and his arms had to be straight up in the air and they wrapped these hard plastic pieces tight around his body. He hated it. The x-ray didn't show any pneumonia today. The doctor added some new medications (including an oral steroid that Oliver doesn't think tastes very good), increased the frequency of his breathing treatments, told the nurse to start suctioning his nose (they hadn't been doing so in light of the nose bleeds on Monday night), and added chest PT every two hours round the clock. The last two things added were the chest PT and nose suctioning, and those two do seem to have helped as they were finally able to lower his oxygen a little (from 2.5 liters to 2.0 liters). Yesterday he was on 3/4 of a liter so it was a drastic change when he needed 3 liters last night. If he doesn't continue to improve, I am going to ask that he be transferred to Geisinger tomorrow (much bigger hospital). Today is the seventh day of the virus. Thankfully he is eating and drinking well (off the iv). He can't walk without falling. His sense of balance is totally out of whack. Although I am still missing Nadia and Ian something fierce, it has been easier to handle Oliver's setback since I got more sleep last night. I plan on going to bed at 8pm again tonight, if that's what it takes to get 6 hours of sleep. I usually get eight hours of sleep, but six is much better than the three I got the previous two nights!