Space!

Gavin has been making many little moves over the last couple of days. Yesterday afternoon I popped out with Da and Uncle Duncle to pick out some toys for Beanie’s x-mas gifts, and when I returned I found him decked out in a pair of prongs. We are delirious to say goodbye to the mask.

These are the oxygen mask issues:
1. They do not stock toddler-sized masks, so his didn’t fit.
2. Because it didn’t fit, it slipped into his eyes a lot, or just off his face while sleeping.
3. It is incredibly noisy, and the less oxygen needed, the noisier it gets. Having a conversation in the room became difficult, and hearing Gavin’s little voice over the roar nearly impossible.
4. Water gathers in the tube and adds its own special noise to the cacophony, and then needs to be emptied.
5. Sometimes the water spills out of the tube when Gavin rolled over, soaking him and the bed as he slept.
6. The parent attempting to sleep in the room would have to wake up every ten minutes to adjust the mask, empty the tube, change the sheets or call the nurse.

Prongs are silent. Prongs stay quietly attached to a Bean’s head. Gavin’s sats as he sleeps tonight are a rock-solid 99. I am hoping that over the next few days the need for the prongs will decrease too.

In other news, we were switched from an isolation room to a much larger “step-down” room. We can spread out a bit and no longer have to endure the whirring of the sliding glass door opening and closing all night. Craig and I took all of the stuff over while Gavin was colouring with Bubby. Suddenly he got panicky and said, “Where my toys go?” Of course we assured him that his toys were waiting for him in our new and improved room, with ensuite. Gavin was thrilled with the new space and has been having a lot of fun.

In celebrity sightings, Drake popped by for a visit today. I heard some sort of commotion outside and our nurse told me he’d come to visit one of the other brain tumour patients, a thirteen-year old girl. Apparently she kept talking about Justin Bieber, so he pulled out his phone and called Bieber for her to have a chat with him. I am a closeted Drake fan (I know, I’m not exactly in his target demographic.) so of course had to poke my head out the door to have a look too. The unit was abuzz for the next couple of hours. I know I’m probably naive about how PR works but I still think it was a lovely thing for him to do. However, Bubby will complain about the fact that they let some famous dude and his handlers wander all over the bloody place but Gavin’s Da and Auntie Loz can’t come in!