Meet Again

Recoveries

The morning after Nicky was admitted to the hospital, Rory was sitting with him in his hospital room. Logan was in Sammy's room which was just a short walk away, and Lorelai was watching Grace. Lorelai had also brought Nicky some of his stuff from home. His own pajamas, a stuffed animal, and his baby blanket. Even though he was 6 years old, he still slept with the blanket that Lorelai had made him before he was born.  

Nicky was showing Rory that one of the nurses had taught him how to use the tv when someone walked into the room with a cart full of stuff. "Hi Nicky, my name is Emma. Can I come play with with you for a little bit?"

Nicky nodded. Rory was actually pretty surprised that Nicky seemed so calm with Emma coming in because usually he was really shy with people he didn't know.

"I'm a child life specialist" she said to Rory. "I'm here to walk him through the process of getting the EEG"

Rory nodded. Since Nicky was really upset the day before, the doctor decided that the rest of the tests could wait.

"Ok, so Nicky, I have a lot of really fun stuff in this cart" Emma said. She took a fluffy, brown teddy bear and gave it to Nicky. "This is hospital bear. Do you to give him a name?"

"Um..." Nicky thought for a minute. "I think his name is maple because he looks the same color as  maple syrup"

"That is a great name" Emma said. "So, I heard that you have to get some tests done today"

Nicky nodded.

"Well it just so happens that maple also needs to have those tests done, so I was thinking maybe you two can do it together"

"But he's just fake. His body doesn't get sick" Nicky said. Rory chuckled a little. Nicky was really smart, and stuff like that didn't usually work on him.

"Oh wow, you're really smart, huh?" Emma asked.

"My mommy says I'm smart because I like to read a lot"

"Alright, well since you're so smart, I can tell you the truth, right?" Emma asked. Nicky nodded. "So sometimes when kids come here they're really scared, and when they have to have scary things done, like a shot or some tests, we do it to maple first so they can see that it's not so scary"

"Oh..."

"Do you want me to show you what your tests are gonna be like?" Emma asked

"Is it gonna hurt?" Nicky asked

"Not at all" Emma said and took a tray of the cart. She started sticking little stickers to the bear's head. "See, the doctors are gonna put little stickers just like this on your head, and there will be lots of wires attached. Those wires will go into a machine that's gonna be able to feel what's going on inside your head. And I'll tell you what, we have a really great playroom here, so if you stay really still for the doctors while they set up your wires, they'll put your machine in a backpack so that you can take it with you to play"

"I like to play"

"I know"

——

Later that afternoon, Nicky was in the hospital's playroom with Emma, so that both Rory and Logan could be with Sammy.

"So, we're gonna lower his sedation and turn the ventilator off to see if he starts breathing in his own. If he does we'll wait half an hour before taking the tube out. If his oxygen levels are good for the whole half hour, we can take the tube out and wake him up. Once the tube is out, you'll be able to hold him"

"Ok" Logan said.

The next half hour was extremely stressful for Rory and Logan, but at the end of it, Sammy was awake and breathing on his own. He was also super upset, although the doctor assured them that it was normal for him to be upset since he'd been asleep for almost 3 weeks straight and he was forcibly woken up.

"Shhh" Rory rocked a crying Sammy.

"You're ok" Logan rubbed Sammy's back.

"No. Mama!" Sammy cried.

"I know, baby. I know" Rory kissed the top of his head. "You're mad that we woke you up"

"I know that it's upsetting to hear him cry so much, but it's actually very good" the doctor said. "The fact that he can cry like this tells us that his lungs are strong and that he's breathing well"

Over the next few hours Sammy had a bunch of tests done to make sure that he was ok. He'd still be in the hospital for a while, but he was doing much better. He was even doing well enough that the doctors were willing to put him and Nicky in the same room.

Nicky was super excited about that since he hadn't seen his baby brother in 3 weeks. Since they were in the same room, Rory's stayed with them that night and Logan went home to be with Grace.

The boys were both on Nicky's hospital bed. The tv was on and Sammy was watching The Cat in the Hat, but Nicky was more interested in Sammy. "Mommy, why does he have that?" Nicky asked and pointed to the tube that was in Sammy's nose.

"That little tube goes ask the way down into hood tummy to give him food" Rory told him. Even though Sammy was breathing on his own, he was now struggling with other things since he hadn't done anything in almost a month. He had pretty much no interest in eating or drinking anything, and he wouldn't even try to walk. The doctors weren't worried about him not wanting to walk since he didn't like walking before he got sick anyway, he preferred to be held, but it was a problem if he didn't eat.

"Does it hurt him?"

"No. Not at all" Rory said. "But it's hard for him to eat real food right now, so that tube is making sure that his tummy stays full so he won't be hungry"

A little while later a neurologist came to talk to Rory. They stepped out into the hall so that the boys wouldn't hear them.

"So the EEG shows that Nicky had 2 more seizures just in the few hours that he had the sensors on. Now, we spoke to the child life specialist who was with him and we determined that the seizures he had today were absence seizures"

"What does that mean?" Rory asked

"Do you ever notice him zone out for just a moment before going back to whatever he was doing as if nothing happened? Maybe you're calling his name and he's just staring? It takes him a little while to answer?" 

"Now that I think of it, yes. And his teacher mentioned something about it, but I always just chalked it up to him being a little boy who's easily distracted"

"Absence seizures often go unnoticed for a very long time. The seizures that he had yesterday tell us that it's getting worse. I'm very confident in diagnosing him with epilepsy"

"Epilepsy?"

"I know. It's a lot to take in" the doctor said. He explained the medication that Nicky would have to take, the possible side effects, and that even with the medication, there's no guarantee that he won't have more seizures.

That night Logan stayed at the hospital with the boys and Rory was home with Grace.

"Mama" Grace said as she walked into the kitchen where Rory was making dinner for the 2 of them.

"What do you need?" Rory signed.

"Ears" Grace signed.

Rory to Grace's processors of the fridge and put them on her head. "Can you hear?" She asked. Grace nodded and ran off to go back to what she was doing.

The next day Nicky was discharged from the hospital with an official diagnosis of epilepsy and 2 different medications. He was still gonna have a few more days home from school. Sammy's doctor also said it would be ok to bring Grace by to see him if they wanted, so after Logan picked Grace up from school, he brought her to the hospital. That was the first time in over 3 weeks that all 3 kids were in the same place.

Logan walked over to Rory who was standing, leaning against the wall. "What are you thinking, Ace?"

"I'm just glad that all of my babies are back together, and everyone's ok"