Twas the night before Christmas....

Christmas Eve is a very quiet place in the Neuroscience Trauma Unit this year. The nurses decided to switch almost all the patients’ rooms because there were only six kids in a 28 room area. Since they were all spread out at each end of the NTU wing, we were consolidated and all put into the same hub. Tonight there are only four patients, and the plan is that by tomorrow afternoon there will only be two left.

One major benefit of the switch was a 6’ padded bench that lays out into a twin bed… not quite as big as Sada’s, but MUCH better than a reclined chair and a rocker. Sada woke late as the doctors let her sleep in till 8:30 am. The nurses said that Christmas Eve is the beginning of “holiday hours” where everything starts a little later and patients get to sleep in. When the on-call surgeon came in he sped up the treatment plan and clamped the EVD a day early because she didn’t seem to be having any pressure buildup inside the ventricles.

Now that the anti-inflammatory drugs are tapering down, she is much more alert and talkative. She has been practicing turning her head to loosen the neck muscles that were stretched during the surgery. They’re not quite as stiff, but with incisions halfway up the back of her head, she still prefers laying on the soft gel pillows. Jeff is her official “narrator” and has been reading Dragonology Chronicles, which she requests regularly between naps and nurses’ checks. It lets her satisfy her book craving without straining her eyes.

Since she wasn’t as tipsy during her excursions back and forth across the room, she was able to take an adventure into the great outdoors. On Monday, some chain-saw wielding elves carved some ice sculpture of Santa and his flying reindeer out in front of the hospital. So Sada got dressed in her down coat and plenty of blankets and rode her chariot into the 10 degree sunny morning for a bit of fresh air. After a few wheelies, we went on a tour of the playroom and brought back a few holiday plaster decorations to paint. Toothbrush sponges make great paintbrushes, by the way.

She has been a little concerned about how Santa is going to find her, but a kindly nurse told her that he visits every year and there is a very big flat roof with a big X on the top where he can land his sleigh. She also said that Santa may park it next to the X so that LifeFlight will be able to land if necessary. And she has the most important criteria covered - if you don't believe, you won't receive. Time to go to sleep... I think I heard jingle bells outside.