Step By Step

I was planning on being in the office by 7am to allow for an early departure so that I might spend some time at the hospital with Layla. Unfortunately, that was not to be…

I woke up this morning with a kick in the back as Tamie did her best to shake me from what I can only imagine was a delightful dream. The 5am alarm that I so meticulously set the night before somehow didn’t go off, and the 7am angry wife had to suffice. It more than did the job.

I ended up at the office just before 9am, but surprisingly still the first one in. A full day’s work was done, in fact it came down to the wire on the last task I was working on. I left at 16:15, hopeful that the work I just finished was done correctly but torn between wishing I had more time to check it and wishing I’d left an hour earlier to get to the hospital. As it was, I still made it a few minutes before 18:00.

When I got to the hospital, I was shocked to find another kid in Layla’s bed. She’d been shifted one bed over, for not other reason than the fact that the room was packed. 8 beds, 8 kids in various states, between hysterically crying for their parents to quietly playing to sleeping. Fun times, indeed. Layla was sitting on Tamie, clutching her like she was trying to fall asleep… turns out she was just starving.

Dinner eventually came and Layla scarfed down her rice and soup. I helped as best I could, but she was so eager to eat that silly things like using a spoon properly wasn’t going to stop her from getting the food into her mouth. She managed to feed herself, and the table and the bed, with little problem.

Thankfully, her energy is up as much as her spirits seem to be – she wanted to play for almost the entire time I was there. The only time she didn’t was when she got made at me for having to hold her and give her medicine instead of letting her play longer.

Layla’s bad mood didn’t last long though — one of the other inmates that Layla has taken a liking to, a young guy (one month Layla’s junior) named yuma-kun, was sitting watching tv and falling asleep. His head was bobbing but he was doing a good job of catching himself before he fell over. No one else seemed to notice (or care) so Tamie eventually went over to see if he wanted to sleep. Instead, he wanted to play and I reorganized a few machines to give Layla enough slack on her leashes so she could reach too. We played with the kid for a good 45 minutes before lights out and everyone had to go to bed.

By 21:00, Layla was still full of energy. Tamie had laid down with her to try to get her to sleep but even after an hour of trying Layla was still wide awake. At one point they were whispering and giggling together like school girls – it was so cute. When the nurse finally came to say visiting hours were done, Layla didn’t cry, accepting it like the hospital veteran she is.

Layla is still coughing a bit today, but overall is definitely much better than she was a week (or even two days) ago. After talking to the doctor, the prognosis is definitely good and it seems like Sunday is the discharge day, given all things progress as expected. I am so looking forward to the day we take her home. Not as much as she is, I’m sure, but things are so much better when she’s around.

Tomorrow is my day alone at the hospital while Tamie goes to work. Here’s hoping it’s my last.