Chapter 22

Walking into the children's hospital emergency department, Richie carried his son as Sarah walked ahead of them.

Holding Daniel so close, he now recognized Sarah's worries, Daniel did seem to have difficulty breathing.

He caught up with Sarah to get some help for Daniel.

"How can I help?" The receptionist asked.
"Our son was discharged about a week ago but he doesn't seem to be doing very well." Richie explained before Sarah could say anything.
The receptionist took Daniel's information. "Do you remember which doctor treated him?"
"Dr. Smillie." Richie said, still finding it a funny name.
"I'll check if he's available and if you take a seat to wait, I'll send him over as soon as he can."

Sarah and Richie took the advise and went to sit in the waiting area with other parents that were waiting to be seen by a doctor.

They only sat for a fewm minutes when a nurse called them to the ER where once again they were lead to a cubicle and were given an oxygen mask for Daniel.

Luckily Dr. Daniel wasn't too busy and showed up only half an hour later during which Sarah and Richie sat on the bed with their son. Daniel still didn't like the oxygen mask but also didn't seem to need it that much.

"Good morning." Dr. Daniel said cheerfully as he walked in along with a nurse. He read the chart quickly. "Daniel isn't feeling better?" He asked.
Sarah spoke up this time. "He's struggling to breathe again. It's declined since last week again."

After a quick check up Dr. Daniel was already pretty sure of what was going on.

"Pneunomia is common after whooping cough. We'll do another x-ray and go from there."


The x-rays confirmed the doctor's suspicion and Daniel was diagnosed with pneunomia only a week after recovering from whooping cough.

As parents they both felt let down, Daniel was getting better and now he was getting worse again. Their son should be happy and healthy instead of being back in the hospital.

"The only reason we're admitting Daniel today is to keep an eye on him today and during the night. To make sure he's strong enough to go home tomorrow morning." Dr. Daniel eplained to them.

Disappointed, the parents followed a nurse to a room where Daniel would stay the night.

"This sucks." Richie said after the nurse and doctor had left the room and left the small family by themselves.
Sarah sighed. "I know. I wanted him to be better now, not relapse."
"Yeah."

Richie sat down in one of the comfy chairs next to Daniel's hospital crib. The room was almost the same as the previous one was. A metal colorful painted baby crib in the middle of the room, two reclining chairs on each side and a pull out couch against the wall by the window.

Using his phone, he decided to update his friends about Daniel again. Back in the hospital.


The day passed without any events. Daniel didn't care much about where he was as long as his mommy and daddy were there with him.

Richie had kept him busy with music and played with him until he had to leave to pick everyone up from school and switched jobs with Sarah.


In the evening, they both stayed with Daniel, leaving their teenagers home alone for the night.

"What do you think?" Sarah asked.
"About?" Richie asked back.
"Daniel being here, do you think he'll get to go home tomorrow?"
Richie looked up at his son sleeping peacefully in the crib. "Yeah."
"So sure?"
"Yeah. He's been fine all day, he's got his medication and he doesn't even need the extra air." He listed the reasons why he thought Daniel could go home in the morning again.
Sarah nodded. "Good points. I hope so."