Day 7 - Tuesday

Jace rested well last night, at least as well as you can rest in a hospital. He feels much better this morning.  His eyes look better and his color is much better than yesterday.  We thought he felt well enough to get up for awhile, so Jamie held him during his 8:00 feed.  This was the 1st time he has held him since we have been here.

Afterward, Taylor wanted to go to the gift shop.  They returned with Jace a Scooby Doo balloon.  He loves balloons and Scooby Doo, so he was so excited.

During rounds, they discussed Jace needing oxygen.  Right now that is the only thing keeping him here.  Dr. Moore thought it would be best to just remove it all together and see what happens instead of gradually trying to wean him.  We had asked the nurse about taking Jace out for awhile in a wagon.  She wanted us to go ahead and do it, so they could take him off the oxygen when we got back. 

He loved getting out of bed.  We took him to the outdoor play area on our floor.  We wanted to see if he could walk by himself.  He stood up for a minute or two, but was pretty wobbly.  He wanted to get back in the wagon.  We took him downstairs and walked around the hospital.  We stayed out for about an hour and then it was time for his feed. 

When we got back to the room, they unhooked his oxygen.  His oxygen levels stayed up right where they wanted them to.  Since he was doing so well, Jamie and I decided to go somewhere outside of the hospital and eat.  Nolan, Judy, and Taylor had already had lunch, so they stayed with Jace.

When we returned, they were in Jace's room doing his echo.  They gave him some morphine before they started to help relax him.  Judy said he laid still for quite awhile, but it took so long that he was starting to get squirmy.  The guy doing his echo couldn't get a good picture of his neck area so he called in another guy to help.  They did everything they could to entertain Jace so they could get good pictures. They did everything they could to entertain Jace so they could get good pictures.  They needed Jace to turn his head a certain way, so one of the guys pretended to have Bella, his dog, in the room.  He barked and pretended to talk to the dog.  I don't know who was more entertained, Jace or us.  We laughed until we couldn't.  I grabbed my camera and tried to get part of it on video.  I didn't think he would want me videoing him, so I just pointed it toward the floor.  It may have been one of those times you just had to be there to realize how funny it was, but I wanted Jace to hear it when he grows up.