Still Sick

Nate is still not feeling well. He didn't have a very good morning today. He was very cranky and has been running a low grade temp all day. His lungs sounded pretty junky this morning. This afternoon, his lungs sounded much better. And this evening he was in a good mood and seemed to be feeling okay.

I just got a call from Dr. Carey with the preliminary culture results which showed "few" pseudomonas. As some of you may remember, we found out Nate had this serious bacteria around his 1st birthday. At that time, he was treated aggressively with Cipro and Colymicyn. After that, he has been on a cycle of Tobramycin breathing treatments every other month to keep the pseudomonas at bay. It has been a very long time since any pseudomonas has showed up in any of his cultures until today. So, we will again take the aggressive approach and start him on Cipro and probably Colymycin again. The final culture results will be back Monday, which Dr. Carey said could possibly show more pseudomonas growing and maybe another type of more common bacterial infection or it could remain the same as the preliminary report.

Pseudomonas is a VERY serious, sometimes fatal bacteria that can settle in the lungs and be very hard to get rid of (as we are finding out!). We were so relieved when his cultures were coming back negative. But, here we are again. So, we pray the medicines rid his body of this bacteria and it doesn't continue to grow in his body. Another battle, but Nate, Trey and I are always prepared for the fight. We are optimistic that Nate, once again, will be healed.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, as they are always welcome and appreciated.

Jennifer

Called the Dr., Nate Still Wheezing

Well, Nate is still wheezing. There is definitely something going on with him - allergies, asthma, or an illness. He acts fine when he's on the bi-pap and his saturations are okay, but not great. At least, not as good as they have been over the last month or so. He's not running a fever, which is a good thing. He's in a great mood as long as you don't take the bi-pap off. When we take the bi-pap off for his bath, to change masks, cough him, get him in his Kid Kart, or for me to hold him, his oxygen saturations drop VERY rapidly and he cries and cries because he's uncomfortable and can't catch his breath. I called the Dr.'s office today and they wanted a nasal culture, which I just took in. Unfortunately, it takes awhile to get those results. They prescribed Prednisone and Augmenten which he will start today. In the past, when he's had these wheezing problems, the Prednisone seems to do the trick. So, for now, it's more rest and probably staying in bed for a couple of days until this passes.

Pretty Quiet Around Here - Which is a Good Thing!

It's been awhile since we last updated. Mainly, because not much has been going on. It's still cold here, so we've pretty much stayed inside. Nathan is doing well, although he has some wheezes in his lungs right now. If it continues, we will call the Dr.

School has started again (after the long holiday break and ice storm) and Nathan is still throwing his fits. Hopefully, he will get through this phase and start enjoying it. In the spring, when it gets warmer and all the cold weather illnesses pass, we will start taking him to school probably once or twice a week. The teacher gave us the days she thinks will be best for Nathan, as far as how many are in the class and the personalities of the kids attending on those days.

Since we've been mostly at home for the past couple of months, Nate has enjoyed his movies, playing games on his computer and doing a few arts and crafts projects. We've been out for a few drives also. He loves to go for car rides!

We have also ran into problems with Nate's power chair. It looks like we are going to have to order a whole new chair. The chair he has now does not meet his needs. It will not accomodate a vent tray (which is a necessity, since he is on his bi-pap almost all the time); and, the electronics are all screwed up because of how they originally configured the attendant drive, Nate can only drive in two speeds and has to work too hard to make it go. So, needless to say, we've had a chair for almost two years that was never made correctly. We've always known there were problems, but we relied upon the "experts" to design his chair properly. We finally came into contact with a great sales rep who "knows his stuff" and has helped us tremendously. Now, the battle begins with returning the chair to Apria Healthcare and our insurance purchasing a whole new chair for Nathan.

We are looking forward to spring and getting Nate out for walks, going to the park, the zoo and all that fun stuff!

Thanks for checking in!

Jennifer