Back on Oxygen 24/7…

Tuesday morning I woke up, looked at TT and decided she looked pretty healthy.  Good coloring, happy disposition and breathing easily.   I then woke Trinity up for school and saw that her allergy attack was resolved which meant she would go back to school, so I decided Tiara and I were  ready to resume our walks!  I texted my friend and she was free for a walk, Yay!. 

After I took Trinity to school, I fed Tiara, did her breathing treatments and was starting on her medicine when I noticed she looked funny.  Her coloring was off and she seemed really shaky.  I ran and grabbed the pulse ox so I could check her oxygen level and discovered she was at 82 percent.  NOT A GOOD NUMBER!  I put the oxygen on her and waited for the number to rise which took a lot longer than I expected.  The thing is she has been doing this to me everyday at some point.  She is supposed to be healthy enough to be off the oxygen but she keeps desatting and then I have to run and get her oxygen.  

Enough is Enough!  I decided as much as I hate bringing her to clinic with all the germs, I needed the doctor to look at her.  I called the pulmonary office and requested an appointment right away.  The nurse said she would squeeze me in at 10:30 but if I was a minute late the doctor wouldn’t see me and I would have to take her to the ER.  I called my friend who was almost to our house and told her we couldn’t walk anymore.

No way I was risking another visit to the ER so we showed up 20 minutes early to her appointment.  Luckily I brought her portable oxygen tank because she started desatting while waiting for her appointment.

We only had to wait a few minutes until a nurse showed us to a room.  She offered to hook Tiara up to their oxygen tank so I could conserve ours.  Super happy about that because ours only lasts for an hour.  Once the doctor examined her and talked to me for about 15 minutes he determined that she just needed more time to heal.  He explained that her lungs had really taken a beating with the flu A in January immediately followed by the flu B in March, and it was just too much for her lungs, they needed more time to recover.  So he said to keep her on oxygen 24 hours a day until our next appointment on May 20.  He also ordered a suction machine for our house because she tends to hold saliva in the back of her mouth which makes it more likely for her to aspirate, compounding the problem even further. 

I felt relieved with his decision and now I just have to find a way to keep the oxygen on her face.  She has become rather defiant with it lately and tears it off the minute I’m not looking.  Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to find it off of her face and lying next to her head on the pillow.  She was as pale as a ghost!  I yelled at her even though she was asleep and couldn’t hear me just because she scared the daylights out of me.  Don’t worry Lou didn’t even stir when I yelled and turned on the light.

I just called Apria to find out if they could deliver some more portable tanks but apparently we need an additional prescription for that.  So it looks like I will be back on the phone with the doctors office momentarily.  It really doesn’t ever end with this sweet girl.

 

Have a great day!

xoxo tiffani