I am happily behind my computer, office door wide open, deep male voices coming from the living room. Cole is home!  After a week-long stint in the hospital he is mostly cured and happily convalescing on the couch. Thank you for all your kind words, messages & emails (Rouwen en Trouwen).

Your skin is the largest organ in (on?) your body. When it is sick. You are sick. Cole discovered this the hard way the last couple of weeks as his eczema flared-up, got infected and he got a viral skin infection on top of that.  It was a very painful, long, difficult illness to heal.

Luckily Cole loved the hospital! After just a bit of trail & error the specialized skin doctors quickly found medicines that helped Cole. He’s especially in love with a cooling cream that actually works. He’s had eczema his entire life, but for the first time he was prescribed a cream that soothes his burning, itching skin. That right there made the week-long stay worth it.

He also loved his daily cake & coffee, served in his room or in the community break room, at 2:30 every afternoon. Mohnkuchen, or poppyseed, was his favorite but really? He liked them all. He also loved having a “hostess” and his speech was soon peppered with:

“Let me ask my hostess…” Being on the private floor, with private insurance, had its benefits. Mostly notably the aforementioned hostess. While he had nurses to care for him medically, the hostess provided additional comfort care. Making sure that he had clean pajamas, towels, food, internet, etc. so that he could focus on resting and healing. It is actually a pretty ingenious solution to whole patient care and it made a stressful situation 1000 times better. For Cole and for me.

It’s almost 2:30 now. I’m waiting to hear a cry for cake & coffee coming from my living room.

Cole & Dane playing in the coffee room

Krankenhaus Bad Cannstatt at night