24 days after Tom was admitted with meningitis, he has been discharged. We are home to stay. Having spent most of the weekend at home on a hospital-approved 'sleepover', Dr W. confirmed that there was little reason for us to carry on cluttering up E37. The nurses only ever popped in to see if they could raise a smile rather than a scream from the boy (the odd rare success) and to take his temperature. Its fluctuations and tendency to rise is what has kept us in for the last week - various nasty reasons have been ruled out (collections of pneumococcus lingering, permanent damage to the regulatory part of the brain, that sort of charming possibility) and, although we remain a little anxious, its time for us to relearn that parenting thing.
A day after being home and Tom seems exhausted. He's been trying to do everything at once and, with frustration increasingly noticable along with erratic sleep, he's worn out. Nik and i share the feeling. While four hours a night sustained us in hospital, the adrenaline is ebbing away and we feel drained. Tom has the mobility of a ten month old with the desire to explore of a toddler and we now have to temper our desire to indulge his every poorly whim. Separating toddler tantrums from the needs of a recovering child is not straightforward.
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