Sunday, March 22, 2009

Rest & Recuperation, March 2009

Following his stay at the hospital, Little Nio is back at home making sure he hasn't lost his skills on the drum kit.

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He misses all his stuffed toy friends and climbs into their midst for a quick bottle of milk formula to get his spirits back up.

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Another toy set we got for Little Nio before he went to the hospital was a tool box. He is always trying to open up and play with his Daddy's toolbox, so it was decided that he should simply have one of his own.

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Here's Little Nio having a go with a power drill. It really is a working toy drill that rotates ever so gently at a very low speed. It can turn both clockwise and counter-clockwise and with several attachments that will allow bolts and screws to be fixed (or removed) from the work surface.

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After playing with his toy tools, Little Nio settles in for a power nap. Still fitful with periods of coughing, but all in all a very long much needed sleep.

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Here he is after taking a nice refreshing bath. All snuggled into bed with several of his Bearista Bears, again with a bottle of milk formula. He's well on his way to complete recovery with the only the problem of getting him to drink his medicines still to be resolved.

Hospitalized, March 2009

Following a regularly scheduled vaccination, our Little Nio caught a nasty throat bug. And because of his lowered resistance, what should have been a little cold became a terrible bronchial infection. I suspect it was something that I brought home from the office as several of the folks I work with had the same bad dry cough.

Little Nio had to be admitted late Wednesday evening to Vichaiyut Hospital, where he had to be given oxygen with adrenaline, hooked up to an intravenous drip and given a couple of injections to lessen the swelling around his throat. This threatened to close up his wind pipe and suffocate him. Fortunately, we arrived at the hospital well before that became a real danger and the doctor was able to get him stabilized right away.

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Here we are in the morning after our first night. More than a little bit exhausted from the lack of sleep and the scheduled medicine doses in the middle of the night. Little Nio though doesn't look too roughed up.

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Little Nio is unfazed by the injections, but he hates the medicine syrups being given to him with a syringe squirted into his mouth. It takes a team of four nurses, plus his Mommy and Daddy to hold him securely and attempt to get some medicine into him. It doesn't really work. We are able to get about 20% of the dosage in him, but all the rest gets squirted back out and sometimes it is accompanied by an eruption of vomit that he somehow manages to conjure out of no where.

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Here's Little Nio sitting quietly, enjoying our view down to the Samsen train station.

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Later that same evening, he is able to sleep for several hours while still hooked up to a drip. The next day we try taking off the intravenous feed and attempt some solid foods. Instead of cooperating, he wanders around and explores the nurses station.

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There's a garden deck three floor down with a waterfall and a pocket garden. There's even a meandering fish pond with several elusive carp fish hiding as we pass.

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Little Nio is able to stretch his legs and walk around to get a bit of sunshine. He is even able to stop and visit at a small spirit house.

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We bring his toy car to the hospital to lift his spirits and hope he will like being walked around in it slowly. Instead he gets on his care without a care in the world and speeds around the hospital corridors at break neck speed. Hard to believe that he is still sick.

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Later that afternoon, Little Nio finds a toy tricycle that belongs to the Pediatric Ward. After spending time terrorizing the nurses and racing with them down the corridors he says goodbye as his nurse friends end their shift to go home.

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Friday evening finds him back in his bed with his Mommy sitting with him making sure he gets enough milk formula.

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The next morning, after a poorly eaten lunch the day before and a non-existent dinner, followed by a pathetic attempt at breakfast, we decide that Little Nio needs to get hooked back on to the intravenous drip.

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This is a view of Little Nio's hospital room, Room 1927. The room is in a shade of pale green, but all the bed linen and hospital gowns are in pink because that's the color of the hospital.

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Little Nio sitting by the window with his Mommy, watching something on the television. His stuffed toy teddy bear in sheep's clothing Bearista Bear is watching with them.

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We have better luck at lunch time when he digs into a bowl of noodles with tremendous gusto. Definitely a good sign that his appetite is back and we can remove the intravenous feed. Little Nio gets discharged shortly after that and we go home in the late afternoon of Saturday.