February 9: Sick Son, Night Terror, "Ives" Dip

It has been quite a long day, following a very long night.  About 2 a.m. this morning, my six-year-old son started screaming in his bed.  When I got to him, he was still screaming, cowering in the dark.  I couldn't wake him up.  I picked him up, kept saying, "It's OK, buddy.  You're safe."  He kept screaming for five minutes, his limbs twitching and jerking, eyes wide and white.  His head was slick with sweat.

I knew what was going on.  My daughter had night terrors a couple times when she was young.  When I would try to wake her up, she would scramble away from me to a corner of her bed.  And she would keep screaming.  It would go on and on.

My son is really sick.  He was burning up with fever this morning.  He has a fever tonight.  I just went in and touched him.  He's so hot that he's practically glowing.  If his fever doesn't break tonight, my wife is going to take him to see the doctor tomorrow.  I'm hoping he at least sleeps through the night.  I'm operating on about three hours of sleep (I had to get up early to shovel out my driveway after the snowplows went by).  My daughter was so tired from the night's excitement that I let her stay home from school today, too.

Currently, my son is sleeping in my bed.  He was too scared to go to his own room.

It's Monday.  Time for an Ives dip:

Will my son have a restful night?

And the answer is:

Another Christmas was approaching, and although the holiday did not mean as much to Ives as it once did, Ives took a deep joy in his grandchildren.  And he was happy to see that despite some rough times his daughter and Paul had a good marriage.  They lived in the old neighborhood, in a rent-controlled apartment that Paul had found years before.  Their domestic happiness was something he could not have predicted, because, way back when, Ives, deep down inside, never thought Paul would make it, so many different things pulling on him at the same time.

There's a whole lot of happiness in that paragraph.  Ives is happy.  Caroline (Ives' daughter) and Paul (her husband) are happy.  Happiness is in abundance.  Looks like no night terrors for my son this evening.

Saint Marty's going to sleep like a baby tonight.

Praying for my son tonight