A Scare and Today's Progress

     In the early hours of Sunday I woke with a feverish Ethen lying across my right arm. The nurse was checking vitals at just the right time. After finding that Ethen had a fever she was giving him a standard dose of tylenol. She noticed that he wasn't protecting his airway, and about that time his oxygen saturation, breathing and heart rate all went in the wrong direction. Ethen was slipping into unconsciousness. The nurse immediately called an emergency response on the floor and the room was flooded with nurses and doctors. Thankfully because of their quick thinking and well-kept records the medical team determined Ethen was not handling the low dose of Ativan well and reversed its effects with other medication. Ethen immediately came out of the downward spiral. For precautionary purposes we went to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of the hospital and stayed for the day.
     Though Ethen's levels improved throughout the day, being in the PICU was sobering. The sights and sounds encountered there affected us and reminded us of the imminence of death. With Ethen's frightening episode earlier in the morning the experience in the PICU tinged his progress with a certain sadness.
     Today we returned to the familiar faces of our oncology team. Ethen has improved and made good progress in discharging fluids throughout the day (Yaya can attest to this since she went home with a pair of wet pants). Please pray with us that he can wean off of his oxygen supplement, and that his body would be able to function more like normal so that we can go home and be reunited with our Hudson and Mikayla.