Big news.
Big news on the blog today. (Drum roll please......)
We have started weaning Theodore's oxygen! You can probably recall that many many months ago we took him off his vent. (Remember that terrible summer of 2012 that landed him on the vent in the first place?) His oxygen requirement since then has also come down. Way down.
We took him to the pulmonary doctor the other day, who apparently did not remember that he no longer uses the vent. She was quite pleased that he was doing so well. She also was the first person, aside from his primary doctor, who actually showed some concern about the bleeding from his trach issue. If you recall, last year he was flown to Hopkins because he had a lot of fresh blood and a clot come out of his trach. This has happened 3 times since then. Each time it's over within 30 minutes and he shows no signs of distress but we have no idea what is causing this. So the pulmonary doctor asked several questions and ordered an xray but I've heard nothing back so the old rule "no news is good news" applies. Although it still leaves it all a mystery.
In any case, his oxygen weaning has begun. Because we already have him off the vent we have saved ourselves from at least 2 sleep studies (thank God... those are the worst things ever) and he is way ahead of the game. If all goes well, we are possibly looking at him being off the vent within a month. And he is doing quite well, but what I didn't expect is that it's not so much his oxygen sats we are watching but his heart rate. It makes total sense I just didn't think about it. He's had several days where he has been without oxygen for extended periods of time and has had no issues. However, yesterday even on his oxygen he had elevated heart rate and low sats. I'm not sure if this is just par for the course or if he has something else brewing, but we kept him on his oxygen all day and we'll see if today is better. Either way, the process has begun and that is seriously exciting and a little bit weird.
On a side note... I've actually lost him. Without his tubing I have no idea where he is and I've had to go looking for him in our home on several occasions. This could get dangerous. :)
We have started weaning Theodore's oxygen! You can probably recall that many many months ago we took him off his vent. (Remember that terrible summer of 2012 that landed him on the vent in the first place?) His oxygen requirement since then has also come down. Way down.
We took him to the pulmonary doctor the other day, who apparently did not remember that he no longer uses the vent. She was quite pleased that he was doing so well. She also was the first person, aside from his primary doctor, who actually showed some concern about the bleeding from his trach issue. If you recall, last year he was flown to Hopkins because he had a lot of fresh blood and a clot come out of his trach. This has happened 3 times since then. Each time it's over within 30 minutes and he shows no signs of distress but we have no idea what is causing this. So the pulmonary doctor asked several questions and ordered an xray but I've heard nothing back so the old rule "no news is good news" applies. Although it still leaves it all a mystery.
In any case, his oxygen weaning has begun. Because we already have him off the vent we have saved ourselves from at least 2 sleep studies (thank God... those are the worst things ever) and he is way ahead of the game. If all goes well, we are possibly looking at him being off the vent within a month. And he is doing quite well, but what I didn't expect is that it's not so much his oxygen sats we are watching but his heart rate. It makes total sense I just didn't think about it. He's had several days where he has been without oxygen for extended periods of time and has had no issues. However, yesterday even on his oxygen he had elevated heart rate and low sats. I'm not sure if this is just par for the course or if he has something else brewing, but we kept him on his oxygen all day and we'll see if today is better. Either way, the process has begun and that is seriously exciting and a little bit weird.
On a side note... I've actually lost him. Without his tubing I have no idea where he is and I've had to go looking for him in our home on several occasions. This could get dangerous. :)
Gates, gates and more gates :) Praying for weening w/o blood/clot issues, no h/r issues, no vent issues, no losing your child issues and complete and miraculous healing!!! So many issues, so many prayers, but then again, it's the Taylor's. Love you and am so, so happy for this new season!
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