he nurse knocked on the bedroom door. I had heard Nathaniel’s oximeter alarm go off prior to her knock and was already out of bed. I ran to his room. Upon entering, my eyes went to the machine recording his oxygen levels. Seventy. And then before I looked away, it dropped to forty-seven.

The nurse was bounding him up and down in her arms, ignoring his gasps for breath. "He's cold," she said. "He needs warmer pajamas." He seemed slightly blue. No maybe ash is a better color choice, I thought to myself. All the lights in the room were on, but I desperately wanted more lighting to figure out what was wrong with his coloring.