Friday (Post-op day 1) - part 2

The best way to describe today is 'up and down'. After his nap this morning he did brighten up considerably and have several comfortable hours flat on his back. He was delighted to get a delivery of a balloon (and one for Lucy) from James and Beth, which really brightened up his room. When Lucy turned up to visit with Grandma and Grandpa she also brought him a balloon, and he played happily for a while pulling the strings and making the balloons bounce on and off the ceiling.

He was also over the moon to receive 'post' - messages that various friends and adults from school had sent him via the hospital website. He learned that his class had sung Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes this afternoon because it was one of his favourite songs, and then he sung it too! Later on he also really enjoyed looking at pictures of his class all wearing their pyjamas today for Children In Need. Rich and I between us read him several chapters of 'Matilda', which he is able to just lie back and enjoy.

reading his post

He had been asking to sit up for much of the day, and late in the afternoon they did say the head of his bed could be raised to 45 degrees. Dr Park also did his rounds and said he would really like Daniel to eat something, since he had eaten nothing for 48 hours.

The nurse came in to raise the head of the bed, and Daniel screamed with pain and begged to be taken off his back. In the end we had to lay him down again, and roll him on to his side. He settled after a while, and managed a bit of Angry Birds on the ipad. He ate a cracker and kept it down, so his 'meal status' was changed from 'clear liquids only' to being allowed to order from the hospital room service menu.  When that arrived he again wanted to sit up, so we rolled him onto his back, but he again could not tolerate it, so he ended up managing one chip, a tiny piece of chicken nugget, and half a choc-chip cookie. Well, it's a start at least!

Angry birds Star Wars!

However, he was still in quite a lot of pain in his back, and seemed to be spasming again, with his legs jerking wildly. He is on maximum pain relief for a child of his size so can't have any more, but he was looking very tired, so we encouraged him to go to sleep and eventually he drifted off.

It's now nearly 8pm. It's my turn for the night shift and Rich is about to set off back to the hotel. I think I will probably get into bed myself once he has gone. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night!