It's been a crazy ride around here this past week (month? year??).
I was realizing that it was five weeks ago on Friday that he went in for his ear surgery. That went pretty well, aside from his idea that his ear cap was an optional accessory. Whatever. I kept him out of school the next week to recover and sent him back on Monday the 3rd.
The cute "little" tank is actually the full-sized one he usually uses. Next to it is the M tank. |
And we've used two in the past 5 days. And we only use them when he's needing more than ten liters of oxygen per minute. There's been some bagging, pushing 100% oxygen into him. There's been a lot of vest CPT (chest physiotherapy), a lot of albuterol, a lot of prayers and pleading. And not so much sleep.
Yesterday I have to admit, I was feeling defeated. It felt like the movie Groundhog Day. Each day was slightly different, but I wasn't finding the key to getting out.
But when I stopped and analyzed things, I realized it was getting better. We hadn't bagged him for a few days. He was spending less time on the oxygen tanks each day. We started to space out his CPT and his albuterol. When he first came home, it was every three hours for both, around the clock. Thank heavens for night nurses.
Yesterday, he only got his vest three times, and when well, he gets it twice, so very close. We only gave one extra dose of albuterol. He still needed 8-10 liters most of the time, but wasn't on the tank at all.
And today? Well, today he's below five liters of oxygen, and satting just fine, thank you very much. He's still pretty tired, but you would be too if you thought daytime was for sleeping and nighttime for playing. I think he might almost be better. He might even go back to school soon.
Finally.
"And sure enough, even waiting will end ... if you can just wait long enough."
William Faulkner
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