Kid's corner

Today we had an appointment to have Elias' eyes checked. At the yearly check-up at the CLB in his school, he received a note claiming his sight was not very good (borderline normal) and his eyes we not positioned correctly. Because we wanted to make sure there actually was a problem, we consulted a specialist today. The first thing he said was that his eyes were positioned correctly, so that CLB claim turned out to be false.

Last Saturday, Elias developed a fever, meanwhile complaining he had an urge to vomit. The latter did happen in the evening, and the situation worsened on Sunday, so we had the doctor come over. Diagnosis was either scarlet fever (roodvonk in Dutch), for which the symptoms matched, or a viral infection. He remained feverish throughout Monday and Tuesday, so the doctor came back today.

Tonight at about 4:00 AM, Elias starting coughing really bad. To avoid Nathan waking up (they sleep in the same room), we took him out of bed and dropped him between us. Strangely, Elias slept on and on while coughing, whereas we tried to doze off. Suddenly he vomited nasal slime that had made its way to his stomach, so then we certainly were awake, while Elias fell back asleep. At 8:00 AM, Elias decided we had slept enough en started playing on the bed.

Nathan just went for a check-up. His lungs are fine, and he seems to be in good health. Meanwhile, he was weighted and measured: 8.4 kg and 74 cm. Apparently he has gained enough weight to compensate for the fall back during his illness.

By the way, tooth nr. 7 has appeared.

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.