Kid's corner

Today we received the joyful news that Nathan is being discharged from the hospital after lunch. He still needs to go for a check-up next Wednesday, and he cannot get near other small children before then, but at least he will be sleeping home tonight.

It seems - but let us not get too hopeful - that Nathan is once again making progress. X-rays of his lungs apparently indicate most of the infected slime has been cleared. Both today and yesterday the fever remained absent. His stool is once more taking a bit more solid shape, and he no longer gets intravenous fluid. It all boils down to this: if he eats well tomorrow, he might be coming home within 24 hours. But, he is a little fellow of ups and downs, and we dare not hope too much.

Today we learned that Nathan has been diagnosed as infected with the Rota virus. His stool was examined last Friday, and the results from the lab came in this afternoon. As the incubation period is taken to be less than 4 days, he most likely acquired the infection in the hospital itself. The only other possibility is that he somehow has been infected and the flue diagnosis made last week was wrong. But, the diarrhea from back then is remarkably different from the stool Nathan produced on Thursday and Friday.

Nathan will have to stay in the hospital until Monday at the least. He has been throwing up yesterday. The reason is the slime he is coughing up end up in his stomach, which cannot handle it. He also had diarrhea again, so they'll change his antibiotics to something that is easier on his body.

Nathan is steadily making progress. The slimes are loosening, so he can cough them up, albeit with some help from a kinesiologist. His intravenous antibiotics should be stopped, and he should switch to oral antibiotics today or tomorrow. So far, so good. Meanwhile, Elias has been checked, and found to be slightly ill - probably the same virus/bacteria doing the rounds (my throat is sore too), but he only needs to take a syrup and some drops for his nose. And he's allowed to go outside. Which means the writing of my PhD is coming to a screeching halt.

Today, Nathan has been diagnosed with a lung infection. They're still doing some tests on his blood, but he'll be in the hospital for at least several days. His condition will be monitored on a daily basis, so there's not really any telling when he will be allowed to go home. He's in room 309. If you want to visit, no kids under 12 are allowed in that section.

A few weeks ago, Elias was checked by the resident urologist at the hospital we frequent - well, where his pediatrician holds office. Verdict: his foreskin is too narrow and has to be removed. D-day: May 30th, 2007. So, today was the day where Elias would have a circumcision. He was not allowed to eat or drink anything after to 8:00. But we kept him sleeping as long as possible, so I woke him at 9:30. A bath, and a trip to the bakery to get dad (me) some food for lunch, and we were on our way.

Nathan took his SIDS test yesterday. Veerle checked in with him at about 18:45. However, the test could not start until Nathan finished his meal around 20:30. The nurse hooked him up with a lot of wires to the computer. What I noticed in particular was the fact that they did not use a net to keep everything in place, as they did in the hospital we took Elias for testing when he was six weeks old.