Back in Business

Jonas is having a pretty good day. It sounds like we'll probably go home tomorrow! The nurse and doctor took out one of his IVs and the drain out of his head (not fun moments). He hasn't been hooked up to the other IV all day, though he hasn't eaten all that much. He did drink a decent amount of chocolate milk, so the nurses were happy with that. The swelling has increased, especially around his eyes, but they haven't swollen shut, probably because he slept upright in my lap all night (yep, not much sleep for me again!). His fever has gone down, and although he's still warm, he's doing alright on just Tylenol and Toradol (the IV form of ibuprofen).

This morning, I took him for a ride in the wagon around the hospital. He made an Elmo headband with some volunteers on the first floor and got some Playdough and colored. There was also a dog he got to pet (named Molly!). Even with his swelling, everyone was still talking about how cute he was. I think his little wave and adorable way of saying "bye bye" help with that! This afternoon, Zack took him to the playroom, and I guess he had a good time touching everything. Right now, he's running around the room like his normal crazy self, talking and singing and getting into everything. We're worried about him banging his head, but it's good to see him turning back into himself.

It's still hard to tell what Jonas is going to look like long-term. Even when the swelling goes down, it can take a year or more for some of the lumps and bumps to smooth out because the plates can take that long to absorb into the bone. But he looks pretty good other than his swollen eyes. His plastic surgeon, Dr. French, came into the room today and spent a long time with us talking about how his surgery went and what they did with his skull bones. She even drew some diagrams; it was pretty interesting. She was happy with how Jonas looked and said his swelling is still less than expected.

Hopefully Jonas will get his appetite back and continue to do well so we can all go home tomorrow. I can tell that the more he gets his personality and energy back, the harder it will be to stay cooped up in this room much longer! I can also tell that I'm going to be very happy he'll be wearing the protective helmet, because this energetic kid doesn't even realize he's hurt at all right now. Thanks for checking in on us!