He was supposed to be due this week. Instead he's on antibiotics for pneumonia he doesn't even have anymore.
We came home last night, after 3 days of hospital stay. There's still a needle in Laya's foot, where the antibiotics are to be fed until Saturday, and then he's home free.
The kid was pierced 2 more times after my last post. The second IV came out because he kept squirming. We didn't know it was dislodged for a time because he kept silent. A nurse came to take it out and left to get someone else to reinsert the IV. Meanwhile, Malaya was cheerful, with a naughty glint in his eye. As if he'd removed the IV on purpose.
When the people came to insert the needle into his leg, I was without escape. He wanted to feed. I asked the people if I could feed him through it. One of the nurses said he might choke on his milk. I asked to feed him before they insert the needle then. They said their shift had just ended and they needed to leave.
0.o
I'm usually acquiescent. I'm the type that doesn't want to be a bother to anyone, even if it kills me.
This time however, I nearly picked a fight with the nurses. What kind of stupid are you, if you ask a mother to prioritize your schedule over her own starving progeny?
The needle turned out to be larger than prescribed, so Chris had to go get another one. This bought me time to feed him. And then it was time for the needle. I held him while he bawled through it.
Oh the frakking feels.
The morning after, the pedia visited and announced he was well. Yay! And that the jaundice was clearing up. Double yay!
But the IV wouldn't be taken out til Saturday.
I hate this needle. I hate that he has to lug it around longer than his disease.
We were given the option to wait it out at the hospital where he would be constantly monitored, or we could just go home with the dextrose replaced with a simple appendage where the antibiotics could be injected into by visiting nurses.
I initially decided to stay at the hospital. And then I took a good look around.
The room we had was one of the few with AC, yet the ventilation sucked, and the bathroom window wouldn't shut all the way. Outside the bathroom window were banana trees, very conducive to mosquitoes. True enough, the bathroom let in a constant stream of mosquitoes. If you're into arcade games like plants vs. zombies, this might be a plus rather than a negative. The plumbing was faulty too. The sink faucet only stopped when the main faucet was on, and this main faucet only let a trickle of water flow.
The hallways and public spaces reeked of humanity. There were no filtration systems, no humidifiers, no effing live plants at least. It being a hospital, you'd think they'd invest in air purifiers to at least make you forget about air-borne diseases.
Also, whenever something was to be done on the patient, someone on the patient's side had to go buy the required mats before the treatment was done.
Oh wait, this is actually a good thing.
Because if it were up to the hospital to provide the meds/plaster/thingamajigs, patient would probably be dead by the time the government provides the budget for needed items.
The same can probably be said for all my complaints and why private hospitals are better than government hospitals.
But it was Laya's state that nailed it - he was growing feverish, and red spots had appeared on his skin. I asked if it was a side effect of the antibiotics. I was repeatedly told it was just a byproduct of him not bathing.
If not bathing was making him sick in the hospital, while it did nothing to him at home, maybe it was high time we got packing.
So we did. This morning, the spots cleared up, his temperature is back to normal, and he has this glint in his eye again.
Laya: 1; Hospital: 0
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