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Sunday, January 19, 2003
Back to business. Nicholas is back on track on weaning off the vent. According to Dr. Schochet's plan, Nicholas's current goal is to be CPAPing 12 hour days by Valentine's Day, and then doing some sprinting with oxygen during the spring and early summer. He hopes that he will be off this silly vent completely by summer.
Of course, you know Nicholas and those lungs. He will make deviations in his path fifty times before we get to the summer, and we know that he will have ups and downs along each pathway.
However, during his doctor visit, Dr. Schochet turned off his oxygen completely, and Nicholas didn't go below 93% saturation. Obviously, there is some progress since our beginning in March.
Dr. Schochet ordered his passey muir (sp) and O ring for the trach. These items will be needed during our sprinting off the vent with oxygen.
He also OKed the speech therapist to begin using sterile water in a bottle in order to start training Nicholas to suck, swallow, and breath all at the same time. He is swallowing with lemon swabs and spit, but now it is time to add a little more to the mix. We will start with dyed sterile water. We dye the water to make sure that he does not send water down the wrong pipe and it end up in the lungs. We can suction out any material from the trach, and if it is colored, we know that he is not swallowing correctly.
Dr. Schochet also increased Nicholas's food volume. This is the first time since August that Nicholas is receiving more volume. We didn't want to rock the boat with putting more fluids in his body because of his lungs. The more fluid he intakes could mean the more that stays in his lungs which makes for poor oxygen exchange and breathing for him. He has always had more calories, but now, he is having a bit more fluid to go along with his meal.
He is still on the small side of his weight. The doctor said until he is really off the vent and not expending all his energy on the vent and to breath, then he will not gain a ton of weight.
Well, I think that is about it. Nicholas is trucking along on his CPAP trials each day, and he is making new progress with his therapies each week.
Please continue to pray for his health. Alex and I will be putting new pictures out today. They are not the best resolution, but Grandma Jenkins has the digital camera. Generally, we get really nice pictures on the CD from Eckerds, but we decided to try Sam's because it is cheaper. However, the resolution on the CD was not high enough for good net pictures.
Alex, Terah, and Nicholas
Back to business. Nicholas is back on track on weaning off the vent. According to Dr. Schochet's plan, Nicholas's current goal is to be CPAPing 12 hour days by Valentine's Day, and then doing some sprinting with oxygen during the spring and early summer. He hopes that he will be off this silly vent completely by summer.
Of course, you know Nicholas and those lungs. He will make deviations in his path fifty times before we get to the summer, and we know that he will have ups and downs along each pathway.
However, during his doctor visit, Dr. Schochet turned off his oxygen completely, and Nicholas didn't go below 93% saturation. Obviously, there is some progress since our beginning in March.
Dr. Schochet ordered his passey muir (sp) and O ring for the trach. These items will be needed during our sprinting off the vent with oxygen.
He also OKed the speech therapist to begin using sterile water in a bottle in order to start training Nicholas to suck, swallow, and breath all at the same time. He is swallowing with lemon swabs and spit, but now it is time to add a little more to the mix. We will start with dyed sterile water. We dye the water to make sure that he does not send water down the wrong pipe and it end up in the lungs. We can suction out any material from the trach, and if it is colored, we know that he is not swallowing correctly.
Dr. Schochet also increased Nicholas's food volume. This is the first time since August that Nicholas is receiving more volume. We didn't want to rock the boat with putting more fluids in his body because of his lungs. The more fluid he intakes could mean the more that stays in his lungs which makes for poor oxygen exchange and breathing for him. He has always had more calories, but now, he is having a bit more fluid to go along with his meal.
He is still on the small side of his weight. The doctor said until he is really off the vent and not expending all his energy on the vent and to breath, then he will not gain a ton of weight.
Well, I think that is about it. Nicholas is trucking along on his CPAP trials each day, and he is making new progress with his therapies each week.
Please continue to pray for his health. Alex and I will be putting new pictures out today. They are not the best resolution, but Grandma Jenkins has the digital camera. Generally, we get really nice pictures on the CD from Eckerds, but we decided to try Sam's because it is cheaper. However, the resolution on the CD was not high enough for good net pictures.
Alex, Terah, and Nicholas