Lucas was sprung from Kaiser-Oakland on Monday morning, much to our surprise and relief. His discharge came at the perfect time. Sunday night, he got another roommate. A baby girl, who apparently had pneumonia and some sort of gangrene. The girl and her mother were squeezed in a curtain-free area between Lucas, who had a window spot, and a baby girl with a colostomy bag near the door. They had no privacy as our doctors and nurses had to pass by their area to get to us. It's already an unfortunate, stressful situation for parents. And to have people passing by you while your trying to focus on your child probably didn't make it any better for them. Hopefully, they were given more space to recover after we left.
Being in a pediatrics unit with so many other sick kids really put Lucas' situation in perspective. It was scary and heart-breaking to watch Lucas suffer through swelling, fevers nearing 105, and poking and prodding from doctors and nurses. But once Lucas had a CT scan on Saturday, James and I knew that surgery offered a clear path to recovery. Many parents in our unit were without that comfort. Thankfully, there were many wonderful pediatric nurses and care givers at Kaiser-Oakland and Hayward who could ease parents' worries.
Those nurses deserve the highest praises for taking care of the most vulnerable and fragile patients day in and day out. I asked Lucas' nurse, Ronnie, how he dealt with seeing children in pain every day. He said a lot of nurses have to take a moment to cry in the bathroom so that parents don't see their hearts breaking. I imagine they must cherish every healthy kid who is able to leave the hospital. There must be a special place in heaven for people like that.
Lucas doing great now. It's almost as if he never had surgery or was in the hospital. He's back to his all naughty ways, including pulling out the TV cable, eating his shoes and opening every kitchen cabinet he can. By Wednesday, he seemed to take joy in standing up and peeing on the bathroom floor. (I have to admit that I was pretty amazed that Lucas managed to pee far enough away from himself that he didn't get any on his feet.)
James and I are so lucky that we have very supportive friends and family whose happy thoughts and get-well wishes were greatly appreciated.
Now, hopefully, we've run out of bad luck... as our doctor said.
Lucas is recovering quite nicely today. Saturday night was the first night in a while that he didn't have a fever. His face is still swollen, including his eye, but the infection (which doctors say stems from bad luck) is under control. Lucas isn't totally in the clear, but the worst seems to be behind us.
Last night I watched a guy in my apartment parking lot crash into a fire hydrant because he was texting. I saw him seconds before he crashed. I knew he was going to crash. But I was hoping he wasn't as stupid as he appeared to be. He is.
Lucas' first words, according to James: "Bob Loblaw law blog." My child is a genius.
I'm sure many people are cheering now that MSNBC has dumped Tucker Carlson. It's probably just me and Al Sharpton who don't share those feelings.
Although I disagree with Tucker on many of his positions, here are some of the reasons I love him:
He thinks what people do with prostitutes should be private. (It's just sex, people.)
He supports gay marriage.
He hates Canada.
He was the only person, I believe, in America who presumed the Duke lacrosse players were innocent. (I think those players suck just for going to Duke, but that's another matter.)
He hates Hillary Clinton, but admires her endurance and drive to become president.
He admits when he is wrong, thus his hate for the Iraq War, President Bush and many Republicans.
I guess I need another guilty pleasure.
Poor little guy! I'm so glad he seems to be doing better now. read more
on Lucas post-op