I’m going to start this story with something that happened before my last post. I was not sure of the implications or ready to deal with any complications that it may have provided. So I left it out of my last update.

What is left of the circus was packing up and getting ready to head to our hotels for the night. I was standing out in the hospital hallway with a few others when the respiratory therapist walked into Chaseton’s room. Seconds later he ran out calling for a doctor. I ran into the room and noticed Chaseton’s oxygen saturation was at 50%. Reacting without much thought I grabbed him and lifted him in to a sitting position and started patting him on the chest like I had seen the therapist do before. After a second or so of this he sucked in a large lung full of air and his sats started to climb. As this was happening the medical team rushed into the room. His sats quickly climbed into the 90’s and stayed there while he was awake. He had several doctors respond to the call. After checking him over they all agreed to watch his progress closely. They all left and Chase started to settle down. He had been up all day and really needed to get some sleep. As we watched him he started to drift off to sleep. His sats immediately started to drop. When they reached the mid 80’s I woke him up and they climbed back up to 100%. This happened two times before we called the nurse and asked for him to go back on O2. Chase spent the night on a low dose of 02 and had no further problems. Both Sammy and Brandon were with him all night getting very little sleep themselves.

Thursday morning we were able to get to the hospital rather early, knowing that Sammy and Brandon would need some rest. Chase was scheduled to have his last two drains removed at 11 am. Sammy and Brandon decided to stick around until that was done.

Chase came back from that procedure with a completely different view on life in the hospital. We actually got our first smile from him within just a few seconds of his return. Yes, it may have been the drugs. He continued to grace us with that wonderful smile many times during the day.

Sammy and Brandon headed back to the Ronald McDonald house to get some rest. Cyanne (Chaseton’s aunt) and I were the appointed baby sitters. We thought he would get some sleep but soon after he returned from his drain removal the echo tech arrived to give him the once over. We already had a tired, grumpy baby when she put that cold gel on his chest; oh look out. Now we had a tired, grumpy, pissed off baby. Did he ever let us know it. Yes we had our hands full, but it was all in love.

Just after the echo tech left they showed up in a red wagon to take him down to x-ray. I have some video of the trip. He enjoyed the ride. Sue and I helped them perform a chest x-ray and then had a fun walk back to his room.

Chase was able to catch a short nap before the respiratory therapist came in to bother him again. After that Sammy and Brandon came back and we all took him for a walk in the hospital garden.

What’s left of the circus ordered in pizza and we all ate in the hospital cafeteria. Chase included. It was a bit of a sad night because three of the circus members need to leave tomorrow. The crew will now be down to two, plus Sammy and Brandon.

I don’t know how to properly express my thanks to the entire circus. We started out at 14 and every one of you was a valuable member of our crew. You all brought a different perspective to our group and every one of you were a great help. Thank you for being with  us during this very difficult time.

The jury is out on whether Chase will head home on Friday or Saturday. We will find out more in the morning.

Once again my editor is sleeping so I am posting this without her help. I’m sure there will be plenty of mistakes. I hope they will be corrected in the morning.

Chaseton’s Grandpa