today's a big day

Fingers are crossed that anesthesia says Lars' cold & cough aren't bad enough to have to postpone his diagnostic procedures today, and that things will go smoothly. Our outgoing nurse this morning said that his O2 sats were perfect all night, so perhaps they'll look at those & decide he's okay enough. We don't yet know anything about when. Lars isn't allowed to eat or drink.

Yesterday was one of those days when none of my hospital time was available to write. Overall, it was an uneventful hospital Sunday full of small moment-to-moment events. Lars rotated through from fussy to in pain with scattered moments of contented playtime. He was able to eat a good amount of food, but resisted drinking, so he's been on continuous IV fluids.

I had wild awake boy until almost midnight, with lots of complaining and hand tremors. It was like he couldn't get comfortable in his skin or in this bed. It was a classic "let's go for a drive" time, but alas that wasn't in the orders. Once he settled down, the night wasn't too bad, for Lars. He didn't have a long awake stretch, just lots of small ones. They moved us to room 711 so we wouldn't have to be with the infant who cries all night long.

Lars had several visitors yesterday- Nicky & Alice both came while I wasn't here, so I didn't get photos. Sorry I missed you. Suzie was able to stay for several hours to help Andey while I was home with Joa. Thank you, thank you.

During the few scattered moments of feeling okay yesterday, Lars actually did some playing, which we haven't seen much of in quite some time. And a couple times he used his right hand with the IV in it. Great to see.

Lars spent enough time in pain yesterday that I'm going to call our friend who's the chief of the pain service to do a consult today. Andey explained to Dr. Grandpa Uninformative, while Lars was crying & arching right in front of him, that her perception was that Lars is in significant pain at least half the time he's awake, in spite of having moved the valium to every six hours.

She then suggested a pain med that we could potentially give him, and doc just looked at her, confused, and said, "I thought the valium was working well?"

He's not only Uninformative in what he presents to us, but it's also tough to inform him of anything. It seems conversation & experience with the patient in front of him are unable to shift the static perception he walked in with. We're thinking he's the weekend guy & we'll get someone new today perhaps. It's an odd set-up. Apparently our pediatrician's office contracts with Harvard Vanguard to cover their patients while they're at Children's. So this guy is Harvard Vanguard's hospitalist.

He's somehow in charge, but he doesn't write the orders, the interns & residents do that. He writes notes, or not, depending on what he has absorbed while he was here. Which appears to be next to nothing. That's as much as we've been able to figure out so far. Lars can be picked up & followed by GI or neurology or another service instead, but if he's here under general pediatrics, then he has these Harvard Vanguard guys.

I had the most incredible treat yesterday evening. My sweet gem of a wife insisted that I get to go meet four friends in Cambridge for dinner & wine & fabulous conversation. What an amazing delight that was. Definitely the highlight of the past month. Thank you gals for a wonderful evening & especially our chef/host. Incredibly delicious.

Visitors are always welcome here in 711, so if you're in the area, drop on by. We'd love to see you.