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| Kevin loved riding the bike in the hall |
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| his balloon |
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| healing quickly |
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| Catherine read to Kevin when she visited. Emmy, Catherine, and Zach missed Kevin a lot. |
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| sleeping the night before surgery (Friday night) |
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| after the drain was removed Monday morning. |
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On Monday January 10 Kevin woke up with a sore neck, Tuesday there was a significant bump. He started antibiotics. On Thursday the bump doubled in size, and he was running a fever. Dr. Brookes admitted him to the hospital. We finally got up to his room at dinnertime. Kevin was very brave when the nurse put in his IV and drew blood. He watched the whole time. For 20 minutes he was crying that the IV hurt, the nurse thought he was afraid of the IV, but it was not in correctly, was backing up, and hurting very much. He had to have another IV put in, he was brave this time too. Later we went for a CT, he thought the CT machine was a spaceship, he loved it and held still. The tech let him see his brain on the computer screen, which of course he found fascinating. Friday afternoon the ENT came in and told us Kevin had an abscess that needed to be drained, due to the large size, continued growth, despite antibiotics. When the nurses administered the antibiotics through the IV, it burned, especially when they flushed. One nurse did not dilute the antibiotic and it really stung. She didn't really believe it was hurting him, I called her back and asked her to dilute it, which was much more tolerable. He came to hate the flushes. Saturday morning he was wheeled down for surgery. He started to cry in the O.R. telling the Dr. that the anesthesia in his IV was burning, they told him, it's OK, the surgery will not hurt, not understanding why he was crying. He went to sleep crying and woke up crying and mad telling me he did not like the yucky medicine. After this Kevin became weary of nurses and doctors telling him something will not hurt, when in truth it did hurt. Monday morning when Dr. Froggia removed the drain in his neck he said, "Ow, that hurts!" He told me later, it really did not hurt when the tube was removed, but he did not trust anyone that told him it would not hurt. I have learned in the future to be completely honest with Kevin and to believe him when he says something is hurting him. Kevin loved that he got to play with really fun toys, watch movies, ride bikes, and to eat fruit loops, pizza, and hot dogs. He missed his brother, sisters, and dad. He was very brave, well behaved, and we are all happy is he is healthy again. He also has a crush on his very nice, cute doctor.
