Por Siempre Y Para Siempre: A Sequel to Take Your Time

Ch. 8 - He's a Strong Kid

The next morning, Olivia is jolted awake by the noise of Kate entering the room. She nudges Rafael to wake him up, he perks up and inhales sharply through his nose, "Hmm? What's up? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing, Kate's just here to check Noah's vitals again," Olivia's voice is soothing.

"Oh, okay," Rafael takes in his surroundings and rubs his hand over his face, trying to tame his beard before he puts his glasses back on, "what time is it?"

"It's, uh," Olivia fumbles to get her phone to check the time, "7am. I better check in with Fin soon."

"Hey Noah, how're you feeling today?" Kate's tone is soft and calming.

"Okay," the boy replies groggily, "my chest still feels heavy. It's still hard to breathe."

"Well that is totally normal for what you've got right now," the nurse assures him, "your voice sounds much better today, though! That's a great sign. Is it okay if I take your temp again?" The boy nods at her and she checks it, "Awesome, 98.6. Perfectly normal. I'm sure you'll be back to school in no time!" At the mention of school, Noah's face falls as he thinks about missing the presentation today. Just as Kate leaves, another nurse comes in with a plate of food for Noah. As she leaves, he picks up the fork on the tray and trays to eat some of it. His parents smile at this since it is the first time he's actually tried to eat since the night before he went into the hospital.

"Is it okay if mama and I go get some breakfast, hijo?" Rafael asks.

"Yeah sure," the boy says as he picks at the scrambled eggs on his plate. The couple share a nod before they head downstairs. On their way down, Olivia sends a text to Fin to check on things at the precinct and is reassured that things are running smoothly.

"When's the meeting today?" She asks her husband on their way back up to the room.

"It's at 10, I've still got some time," he says as he wraps his arm around her, "I'll head out once we're done eating, if that's cool?"

"Of course, we can handle things here," she smiles back at him. As they enter the room, they see two nurses and Dr. Waller huddled around Noah's bed and Olivia's expression does a 180, "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Noah fell asleep when he was done eating and his pulse dropped down pretty low," the doctor explains, "he's okay now. When Kate woke him up, it went up to an almost normal rate."

"Oh, okay, we should've been here, I'm so sorry. We just went down to get some breakfast," she explains, her voice shaking, "he was fine when we left. He was actually eating something."

"Oh don't worry, he's fine," Dr. Waller waves his hand to dismiss the notion of guilt, "it happens sometimes when kids this sick fall asleep. While I'm here, I'd like to check his lungs again. I'll probably have him taken down for an X-Ray regardless of what I find from it, but I'd like to see if I can notice a difference." Rafael and Olivia both nod in unison as they sit down and try to start eating as the doctor instructs Noah, "Okay bud, just like we did yesterday, alright? Deep breaths in through your nose. Hold it, and then let it out through your mouth. Great, good job. Thanks, bud! There's still a good amount of fluid in there, from what I heard. We're going to get you prepped to move to the X-Ray room. Unfortunately, you're mom and dad can't come down there with you. But you'll be back here with them before you know it." He ruffles the messy curls on top of the boy's head. Noah glances over at his parents sitting next to his bed and gives them a worried look. The couple nod to reassure him that it will be okay. Kate and the other nurse from the before walk in to help him get moved.

After 45 minutes, they return with the boy and Kate tells the pair that Dr. Waller will be in shortly to discuss the results. As promised, he walks in with an oversized file and pulls a large, transparent film out of it and places it onto the lightboard on the wall, "This is what we're looking at. This one's his left lung and this one's his right." He continues to explain the condition of Noah's lungs as the boy's parents nod slowly, "The right lung has cleared up more since yesterday, but the left still has a significant amount. Nothing antibiotics won't clear up though, but he might be in here longer than we initially thought." He smiles at the family sympathetically before saying goodbye and leaving. Noah is already asleep in bed again and Olivia sinks back into her seat clutching her chest as she tries to slow her breathing. She can feel the panic swelling in her entire body.

"Nena, it's going to be okay," Rafael sits on the armrest of her chair and wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close, "Dr. Waller just said he'll be okay. We just need to stay a bit longer than we thought."

"I know, I just want it to be okay right now," she sighs and leans her head into his torso, "I hate seeing him go through this."

"I know you do, but we have to be patient," he says before kissing her head, "we're going to get through this."

Dr. Waller walks into the room around 9am to check on Noah's lungs. Five days have passed since Noah was admitted to the hospital and when Dr. Waller checked his lungs the day before, they were clear. He had Noah get another X-Ray just to make sure. Those came back clear and the doctor told the family that he wanted to keep the boy for one more night to make sure everything was perfect but after that, they'd be able to take him home. Noah's energy has been coming back to him little by little over the last two days and his appetite is back completely. Olivia and Rafael both sat up in their chairs a bit straighter as Dr. Waller checked Noah's lungs and got his vitals one more time. They were eager to hear that they'd be able to go home today.

"Alright, Noah is good to go home!" Dr. Waller said, a wide smile spreading across his face. The two parents let out deep sighs of relief and stood up to thank the doctor for everything. He takes a step back to address the family as a whole, "Noah, I think you'll need to take a couple days off from school just to get your energy back and get used to being back home again. You can go back on Wednesday, okay?"

"Okay!" Noah says enthusiastically. Olivia can't stop from smiling at the sight of her son returning to his cheerful self. Before the doctor can say anything else, Kate walks in with a small balloon attached to a plastic stick that says "Congrats" in big bright lettering.

"I heard you get to leave, Noah!" She skips over to his bed, "That's so exciting! But we will all miss you here in the Peds Wing, so we got you this." She hands the balloon over to him and a toothy smile covers his face.

"Thank you, Kate," he says gleefully, "I will miss you too. And the pudding, I'll miss the pudding." Everyone laughs at how blunt he can be. Dr. Waller asks to speak to the two outside while Kate gets Noah ready to leave.

"Okay, so just a few instructions for when you guys get home. He will need to be on antibiotics for another two weeks to make sure the bacteria is all cleared out. I sent the prescription to the pharmacy you provided when you checked in earlier this week," he starts in on the list of post-hospital care and the couple nods along with him, "I also sent over a script for an inhaler. This is in case of emergency. If he starts to have a hard time breathing and it doesn't go away in about a minute, have him use it. That happens with children who have gone through double pneumonia."

"Right, of course," Olivia already knew all of this, she read up on the long-term issues that can stem from chronic pneumonia and double pneumonia in children while she was staying with Noah at the hospital, "Thank you, Dr. Waller." He nods to acknowledge her.

"Do we need to limit his physical activity at all?" Rafael asks.

"He should be okay, I would just suggest you keep an eye on him for the two days he's at home," the doctor answers, "just to make sure he doesn't overexert himself. His energy is coming back as you can see, but it will still take some time before he is back to 100%. It just takes time, so if he gets tired easily for about a week, don't worry about it. It's normal." Rafael nods quickly to show he understands.

"Thank you so much for everything, Dr. Waller," Olivia says, her tone soft, "your dedication to this means a lot to us."

"Oh, not a problem at all. You did a good job getting him in here as soon as you noticed the symptoms," Dr. Waller responds, "he's going to be just fine, though. He's a strong kid." The couple smiles proudly at this before Dr. Waller says goodbye and leaves to check on another one of his patients.

When they walk back into the room, they notice that Noah's IV has been taken out and he was a bright blue bandaid where it was inserted into his hand. The young boy proudly shows it off and Kate mentions that he can get changed into his clothes to head home in. Rafael pulls some sweatpants and a hoodie out of one of the bags Lucy brought them and he and Noah head into the small bathroom to get him changed. Another nurse from the wing brings in a clipboard with a few papers for Olivia to sign confirming the discharge and that they understand the post-hospital care that should take place. As she signs the final page, Noah and Rafael walk out of the bathroom and Rafael helps his son into the wheelchair Kate brought into the room. The three of them head down the hallway of the Pediatric Wing towards the elevator to head home.