Surreal Hospital Fun

Today was a lovely day.

And it sounds so very strange to say that.

After all, we are in the hospital!

Sam's counts are very low. But since he had blood yesterday, his energy level was pretty good. (If you or I had the platelet or hemoglobin count that he does....I don't think we would spend an hour and a half playing Wii with quite the same vigor.)

We bounced from activity to activity. Most of them felt perfectly "normal" for a six-year-old.

Playing Wii - Sam is determined to beat Dad's score in the ski jump...it took a lot of coaching.

Using Zeyde's binoculars to check out the garbage cans below (we tried to look at the Air Show too) and getting IV'd up at the same time.

And as we did whatever, occasionally a nurse would come in and perform some medical action. We barely noticed. Our nurse today was a real trooper - she followed Sam around the room to hook him up, unhook him, check his temperature, take his blood pressure....she dodged the Wii remote and looked out the window at the Air Show. She commented on what we were doing and asked questions...but for the most part, we were left alone. (Oh, and she asked about challah, which she'd never tasted. So we shared.)

One of the residents came by to say hello, and ended up spending a few hours (!) hanging out in our room, working on her reports. We fed her Pirate Booty (she'd never had it?!) and taught her some Hebrew and sign language words. Then Sam showed her videos of Solly and a few that he'd made of himself!

Sam and Dr. L

I think Sam felt the surreal nature of the day too. At one point, we were sitting on the couch playing Draw Something. The nurse came to take Sam's vitals and he insisted that if he had to be bothered, we did too. So she took not only Sam's pulse-oxygen level, but Karen's and mine as well! It just seemed like a lazy Saturday spent hanging out.

Taking pulse-ox (Karen's score was 99!)

Helping Sam with Draw Something. I help him to spell and read the words. It's a great teaching tool.

It's hard to believe that today was the 19th day in the hospital. We've been in isolation since last Thursday, and we could have 10+ more days in the hospital.

If only every day was like today....