Stuck in the middle with you

A more difficult night. But some small steps forward in the day.

Last night the boy wasn't sleepy having slept so much of the previous day. So, he wanted me to stay with him and hold his hand until well after midnight. Got a few hours fitful sleep. No moaning from the other children but the usual peal from the massed ranks of monitors in the bay. Talked to some parents today. Something that doesn't happen too often in cancer or neuro wards. Too much worry about your own child to care about someone elses. All agreed sleeping in a high dependency bay is tough as you never get enough quality sleep. Makes an emotional situation that bit more emotional. Drains your reserves.

And in the early morning he started projectile vomiting. Luckily, he had another high quality nurse overnight. Not sure why he was sick as he hadn't been sick for 24 hours. Could be a problem with the surgery or something more mundane. Could be a bad reaction to the morphine. They're adopting the usual wait and see. But in the meantime the morphine has been stopped. We won't know anthing for sure until Monday's brain scan.

Better news is that he agreed to sit up in bed for the first time. Needed to hold on to the side of the cot and my hand to steady himself. Swayed gently like someone the morning after a heavy night before. Was able to watch a little TV. So his eyes seem to be able to focus and there's no
apparent squint. Hard to asess his hearing as the heavy bandage round his head covers his ears. And we won't know about his balance until he's ready to get out of bed.

The range of tubes and monitors are gradually being reduced. He now only has his two permanent lines and a canula in his foot. He very much wants this removed. But it will stay for a while incase they need extra intravenous access.

Had another visit from auntie. To his delight she brought big panda and Chi Chi to visit him. He was happily introducing big panda to little panda. Little panda has rather been in the wars. He was the recipient of one of the projectile vomits.

We have got a single room for tonight. So as it's unisex this time I'm going to have it. I'm feeling the worse for wear today. Me and Mrs Ctel mainly do tag team care to reduce the wear and tear. Get a bit of rest while the other looks after the boy. Since the morphine stopped he has
retched a few times and said he wants to be sick. But so far he hasn't. Let's hope there's more improvement tomorrow.