Today things seems quieter. They are slowly weaning Jasmine down on the bipap machine. The steroid burst started yesterday with some interesting side effects — hallucinations and amped up emotional outbursts. Yesterday we got to answer questions about reality (as in, “Is this a real bed?” “Is this a real room?”) and turkeys on rollerblades (“Did you see that?!?” “No.” “Turkeys on rollerblades! One was short and fat and the other tall and skinny!” “Uh, okay, honey.”). If we weren’t fielding questions about hallucinations, we were dealing with amplified emotions (“It’s not fair that I’m in here while all the other kids are out there having fun,” and “I’m tired of being sick everywhere and all the time.”) The emotions were harder to weather than the hallucinations because I think she was saying things she normally holds back from saying, and all I wanted to do was hug her but it was hard with all the stuff attached to her.

Today she’s sleeping more, but that’s a good thing since it was primarily anxiety that was keeping her from sleeping well before. Now instead of complaining she can’t breathe, she’s complaining her nose is dry, which is likely very true considering the concentration of oxygen she’s getting.

Her “numbers” are better and I just had a better feeling seeing her today, even though really nothing has changed as far as the staff knowing what’s wrong with her. I feel like maybe these steroids are helping, not to mention all the prayers. Time will tell and I will try to post an update tomorrow.