Layla is pretty well ready to leave the hospital – that’s my unprofessional opinion. Today she was excited, rambunctious, playful, laughing – everything you’d expect a happy, healthy two year old to be. In any other setting, it’d be normal. In the hospital, not so much. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas — just 2 more sleeps, 1 more day. But who’s counting?
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The planned discharge day of Sunday was moved back to at least Monday. The doctor is being extra cautious with Layla – she continues to cough (a couple times a day) despite the medicine, so the doctor doesn’t want to take any chances of her having any kind of relapse. I guess I should appreciate the doctor’s extra care but I can’t help but feel she’s been overly cautious. For the last few days, Layla has been very energetic, playful, cheerful, etc. I understand there’s still a bit of a rattle in her chest and the ever-present cough, but I’m confident Layla’s body can fight off whatever it is that’s left over in her system. She’s had worse without even a trip to the doctor, let alone a stay in the hospital. On the flipside, I guess it’s better to be have an extra day of caution than to release her early and have another week in the hospital because she has another attack… regardless, it sucks to hear the doctor tell you it’s going to be even longer than anticipated…. originally it was only supposed to be a week-long stay. They say all good things come to those who wait – I feel like the amount of time we’ve waited, we deserve the best thing… and, all things going well, Monday we will get the best thing, and her name is Layla.
Today was my day to visit Layla at the hospital. Tamie got up and left early for work, and I got up and worked a couple hours remotely before heading to the hospital. In both cases, I’m sure we’d both rather get up at an almost reasonable hour, fight with Layla to wake up, eat her breakfast, get dressed and go to daycare. Ask me again in a week…
I got the hospital just as Layla was finishing her lunch. Two things struck me when I came in. Firstly, she was sitting at a small table with a fellow inmate, a girl a bit older than Layla who had been there a couple days already. Second, she was free of one of the leashes that kept her stuck to her bed. The tube feeding her oxygen was no longer wrapped around her head poking into her nose. I am sure the moment they took that leash off she savoured the sweet, non-oxygen-enriched smell of the dank air in the hospital.
Layla seemed pretty happy, eating everything that was in front of her but the poor other kid just sat and stared at us. A nurse tried to get her to eat, but she refused. As I helped Layla eat, I tried to get her to eat too but she just stared blankly at me. I guess hunger finally convinced her to eat because eventually she started wolfing down everything on her tray. Bedside manner at its finest.
After lunch, Layla wanted to colour so I got her markers and her colouring book out of the desk beside the bed. She took them over to the small table, where the fellow inmate was also preparing to do some drawing. I was happy to see that, finally, Layla had someone closer to her age to interact with. I wish I could say they got along well, but at least they were social to each other. They shared crayons, markers and paper but beyond that it was every inmate for themselves.
While the colouring was going on, the new batch of co-op students showed up. Tamie had signed a permission form allowing said students to use Layla as a training ground for their future careers. I thought that was odd seeing as the last batch didn’t require any kind of permission… they just kind of showed up one day. In either case, it got a bit awkward to say the least… read on…
Layla isn’t what I’d call the most outgoing kid in the world. She gets along with people she knows, but strangers take some time before she’ll warm up to them. Crowds of strangers just seem to make her retreat into a shell that she won’t come out of. I know exactly how she feels as I grew up feeling the same way. With that in mind, a crowd of student nurses was the perfect catalyst for one of the most ridiculously awkward situations I’ve been in in a long time.
I was busy playing with and entertaining the two girls alone before everyone showed up. Everyone was having fun – even the baby in the cage was sitting and watching, his feet hanging through the bars, laughing as he watched. Eventually the nurses showed up, one at a time, to check on the kids. After the first nurse, they continued playing. The second drew some concern, but colouring continued and fun was still had. The third, fourth and fifth nurses… fellow inmate was still okay, but Layla was nearly frozen…
The students’ hearts are definitely in the right place – they are trying to learn and also to entertain and befriend the kids they are assigned to. Layla would have none of it though, seeing the crowd of people staring at her instead of seeing the one nurse who was actually trying to play with her. I did my best to encourage her but she was determined to climb on my lap and wait until everyone left. So I held her and everyone told me she was too tired. There hearts might be in the right place but there heads certainly weren’t – she wasn’t tired so much as she was nervous of everyone around.
One thing that annoyed me, which Tamie later pointed out was maybe okay, was the fact that in the room of six kids, four nurses decided to crowd around my daughter and the inmate she was playing with. I was there watching them and keeping them entertained and the nurses decided that those two kids were the ones that deserved their attention, the four other kids in the room be damned. Later, Tamie pointed out that the students (3 of the 4 nurses) were most likely assigned certain kids that they could interact with and they weren’t allowed to play with the others. Not really a good reason, but a reason nonetheless.
Layla eventually fell asleep in my arms, so we sat on the bed where I read a book while she sawed logs. I’m almost done the book but it seems like every time I get to a good point, Layla wakes up or needs my attention. The last 50 pages are always the hardest, eh?
After she woke up, she refused to move from my chest. I ended up convincing her to get up by asking if she wanted to take a walk. Her nose leash was gone and I knew the IV had a battery from previous experience, so after she put her sandals on I took her out and about for the first time in a long time. She nearly ran out of the room she was so excited. We went to the playroom and she brought back some toys to her bed.
Unfortunately, the toys we took back were not actually the toys she wanted to play with. After returning to the bed, Layla saw the fellow inmate was playing happily with her mom with some building blocks on the little table. Layla, ever the leader, decided she too wanted to play with building blocks on the little table. So, for a while, there was peace – no nurses, a mom and daughter playing with a father and daughter with a small language barrier but still having fun.
And then she showed up. The nurse in the pink apron. The nurse who’s sole duty is to make every baby she interacts with cry out in pain and try to squirm away from her. Yep. The nurse responsible for happily sticking the 6″+ vacuum tube up each babies’ nose, such up any phlegm, mucus or blood that might exist in there. Layla cried at the very sight of her. The actual vacuuming was almost unbearable to listen to… but I know she’s a veteran because 15 seconds after it was done she was silent. The only thing was she was once again stuck to me. I ended up coaxing her down, but only after a baby showed up that she wanted to play with.
Tamie showed up around 17:30, giving me some time to take a break and get a much-needed snack. She stayed with Layla when I took my leave at 18:00, just after Layla got her lunch. When I got back, Tamie informed me that they’d had a HUGE fight. Layla was, apparently, asking for me the whole time… Yep – it felt even better than you could imagine.
Unfortunately, despite Layla’s cries she was quite happy to be with her mom after I returned. I knew she missed her mom so didn’t make too big of a fuss about it… at least, not until tomorrow when she continues to ignore me =).
At 20:00, the lights went out and by 21:00, the visiting hours ended. By 21:10, the nurses were trying to kick us out. We left Layla who didn’t make a peep after we told her we had to bail. She understood and accepted it, not like one of the new kids who cried past 21:00. Tomorrow is another day, another day I look forward to seeing Layla’s progress. Another couple days and we’ll be home again… TIme might fly when you’re having fun but it certainly crawls to a stop when you aren’t.
Today was a beautiful day, weather-wise. The kind of day we consider going to the zoo or the park, letting Layla play on the slides or tossing a ball. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, the wind was brisk. Had Layla not been stuck in a hospital bed, I’d say it’d have been a great way to end the weekend… but alas…
I got to be the “hero” today, heading to the hospital in time for the lunchtime feeding to end. Tamie stayed home to do some chores as I went to claim my title for the day. I peaked in the room window to check if she was done her lunch only to see the poor kid sitting on the bed, struggling to clean up the mess she’d made trying to feed herself a multitude of things. Rice, chicken, vegetables, even soup was scattered on her bed sheet. I was shocked to see that she was supposed to feed herself given the fact that her hands are rendered useless by all the tape and they wrap around them to hold the IV’s and sensors in place… just another reason to love the staff at our local hospital.
I poked my head in the room and Layla pointed out she made a mess, proudly pointing out the rice, the chicken, the vegetables and even the spots of soup on the bed. I cleaned the sheets as best I could with the wet towel provided but, despite my best efforts, found myself picking up bits of food throughout the day. She was quite happy to see me, we talked a bit before settling down to read a couple books and colour in her colouring books.
After the initial blast of energy and activity, Layla slowly settled down into a more quiet state, wanting to watch videos (of herself dancing) on the laptop. We watched a few, several times each, before switching over to Toy Story. She did her best to fight off the sleep that I expected to come and, much to my surprise, did just that. She complained that she was hungry, but I suspected it was more she wanted to be busy eating to prevent falling asleep. Luckily, Tamie showed up before she complained too much and she got a second wind.
While Tamie was there, she continued to ask for snacks and juice. I discretely gave her a splash of orange juice from my backpack while the nurses were out, which seemed to satisfy her, at least for the time being. I never thought I’d feel like a criminal for giving my daughter juice.
At one point, one of the other babies started crying (it might have been just after the orange juice but I can’t say for sure =) and Layla wanted to go check him out. We did the best we could to stretch out her oxygen tube so she could reach… she almost made it. He wasn’t all that interested in us, though, crying for his mom who was yet to come. Layla quickly lost interest so I picked her up and carried her while the baby cried on. I realized I hadn’t actually held Layla in over a week and, despite my constant complaining and always trying to make her walk, I missed it. I could have held that kid all day today.
Eventually, we played with some of the hospital toys, each other, and even with the camera (See pictures here). Layla is definitely in better spirits and that makes things much easier on all of us. I hope that’s a sign that she’s actually feeling better and not just more comfortable (or accepting of her fate) in the hospital.
Around 17:30, I bailed to let Layla and Tamie spend some time together. It’s tough to leave the poor kid in hospital but I want her and Tamie to spend some time together as well. Being the “hero” of the day isn’t always easy, and giving them some time alone is one of those “hero”-ly things to do. That, plus, I wanted to grab a drink and a washroom break.
I got back to the hospital just after 19:00, and the girls were busy playing. Tamie was feeling a bit peckish, so I took the baton from her and ran the final leg of the hospital relay race. We played until 20:00, at which time I had to take the toys back to the playroom before it got locked up. Lights out came soon after, so I read Layla a couple of books before she ultimately laid down to go to sleep.
While we were laying in the bed, a nurse came into the room to do whatever it is that nurses do in lights-out rooms with people trying to put their kids to sleep before visiting hours ends. Much to my surprise, Layla leaned over and whispered to me. “That nurse is scary!” she said in a hushed voice. I chuckled, and agreed. “Scary nurse, eh?” she asked. I’m not sure why, but she’s recently picked up the use of the term ‘eh’. It’s hilarious.
After the nurse left, Layla closed her eyes to try to sleep. I laid beside her, waiting until she was out before getting up and leaving for the night. As I watched her suck her thumb and squeeze her miffy, I was surprised to see her eyes pop open and her lean over to me one more time. “Dad?” she asked, innocently and still in a hushed whisper. I leaned in closer to hear and she continued. “Tomorrow – grape juice.” she smiled. “And don’t tell mom!” Silently, I nodded before answering, “Okay, but don’t tell the nurses either.” She agreed, and with that she finally closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.
In case you missed the link inline, pictures from today were uploaded here:
Pictures uploaded to here.