You wonder

The poor little boy is so stoic in the face of what must be appalling pain in his head.

The boy had an unsettled night, despite regular paracetamol, ibuprofen and morphine. He was asleep when I took over but his arm and leg were moving jerkily. And his face was pink. It made for uncomfortable watching. When he woke it was distressingly clear that he was in discomfort and he wasn't really with it. His eyes were open and his arm was pointing down (monitor off my toe), to his neck (lower my trachy cuff) and out (I want to go downstairs) but they were almost reflex actions as he was not fully conscious. He was not responding to me otherwise. All that despite an extra dose of morphine.

We ended up giving him a higher dose of morphine and a steroid for the swelling in his brain. And after a couple of hours he sort of regained his focus on the world. But his arm is terribly weak, worse than yesterday. And his hand is able to do a few rudimentary signs but nothing else. His face is impassive as can can't make any expressions. Makes it so difficult to know what is going on in his mind and work out what sort of quality of life he has now .

He played a little bit but most of the day was spent quietly on the sofa, listening to the TV. Watching seems too much of an effort. He dozed on and off through much of the late afternoon. I kept stroking his head but I bet that was more irritating than soothing.

We got him ready for bed but he pointed vaguely in the direction of the bathroom. This was the most engaged he had been all day. After a quick bath, he just about had enough wherewithall to insist on a bit of play before bed but looks wiped out. I hope he has a better night.