We took Elijah to see one of our favorite doctors in the world today, Dr. K (pulmonologist). We shared our airway-croup-intubation-extubation-heart-surgery concerns with him and showed him the photos that were taken of Elijah's irritated airway a week ago. Dr. K had a thought about something he'd read about a while back, and got on the phone with E's ENT doctor to chat about it. In theory, if steroids are administered directly onto the surface of the airway, this could help it to not become inflamed. But. This is not an approved procedure, so it is not recommended. Steroids aren't meant to be absorbed by the tissue in the airway. He wanted to read more about it, but thought it probably wouldn't be something we could do.
As I knew he would, though, he did want to come up with some sort of plan. So. Here is our let's-make-sure-Elijah-can-breathe-after-surgery plan as of now:
1. Give Elijah Pulmicort nebs 2x/day for the entire week leading up to surgery.
2. Dr. K wants to chat ahead of time with the anesthesiologist and intensivist assigned to take care of Elijah during and after surgery, and obviously his surgeon (Dr. M) as well. Since administering steroids onto the airway probably won't be a possibility, they will instead spray Pulmicort directly onto the airway.
3. A dose of steroids will be given to E immediately before extubation.
4. Racemic epi nebs will be on hand at extubation.
Dr. K let us know that the severity of Elijah's croup, and especially the fact that he gets it so severely post-extubation, makes him a very rare case. Plans like this usually don't need to be formed. I hate that we are having to form this plan, but I'm glad we have it.
We did learn today that we can request a specific anesthesiologist for this next surgery. We have never ever had a bad one, or even just a good one. They have all been nothing less than excellent. BUT! There is one that we love a little more than the rest. Dr. A, our beloved Dr. A. I hope he is free to care for our boy on June 10th.
On a much lighter note...
Elijah has his first modeling job! :) His physical therapist called me last week because she thought he would be a great model for a brochure that is being created for a new PT/OT/speech clinic that is opening up in our area. We all know what a great, happy smile/face he has, and he's a pretty cooperative kid (most of the time). She said that all of the therapists swoon over him after he leaves the clinic each week. She has OTs and speech therapists approaching her and saying, "Are you SURE Elijah doesn't need other therapies?" :)
I noticed this same thing when I walked into school with him the other day. As we walked down the hall, everyone would turn and say, "HI ELIJAH!" "Hey Elijah, how are you today??" "Good morning, Elijah! It's good to see you today!" I said, "Wow, sweetie, you have a lot of friends." Elijah said, "Yeah."
Now if only he would accept his cute, chubby, snuggly brother Sammy as his friend. :(
Showing posts with label friendliness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendliness. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday, May 3, 2010
The spunkman
Can you tell Elijah has been picking out his own outfits lately? :) He likes to layer and he is extremely selective about what shirt(s) he puts on in the morning.
He has also been asking to snuggle with a blanket and pillow on the floor a lot.
And check out his new big boy bike! He can't quite reach the pedals yet, but he does a great job of scooting around on his "bwue bike." Look at my big boy!
Something I hear about nine million times every day is, "WOOK, MOM!" He could be showing me any number of things, but most of the time he is showing me his armpit. When I go in for the tickle, he either giggles uncontrollably or he puts his arm down and says, "HHhhhug! Hug!"
He has started climbing into the love sac and surrounding himself with pillows and blankets. This is the first time he has shown interest in the love sac, and it almost looks like we could lose him in there.
Our patience is still being tested here in the Porta house. Elijah's new thing is banning meal times. Getting him to the table has never been a struggle before, but suddenly it is. We have completely cut out juice and snacks between meals and that sometimes helps to make him hungry enough to come to the table willingly when it's time to eat. Sometimes not, though.
We made a trip to the park this weekend and I realized what an incredibly friendly little boy Elijah is. He says, "HI!!" to everybody at least once. It's funny how some people are receptive to his hellos and some people just aren't (how could you not be?). He loves people so much. He takes after my dad in that way. My dad is the world's friendliest person and Elijah appears to be following in his footsteps.
Well, here we go with another week! I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I'm curious to see if I will get to see my doctor and if she will remember who I am. Next week I will receive my last progesterone injection, so shortly after that we will get to see how well the shots have been working. My personal guess for when I will go into labor is May 25th. Just a weird hunch I have. Have a good week!!
He has also been asking to snuggle with a blanket and pillow on the floor a lot.
And check out his new big boy bike! He can't quite reach the pedals yet, but he does a great job of scooting around on his "bwue bike." Look at my big boy!
Something I hear about nine million times every day is, "WOOK, MOM!" He could be showing me any number of things, but most of the time he is showing me his armpit. When I go in for the tickle, he either giggles uncontrollably or he puts his arm down and says, "HHhhhug! Hug!"
He has started climbing into the love sac and surrounding himself with pillows and blankets. This is the first time he has shown interest in the love sac, and it almost looks like we could lose him in there.
Our patience is still being tested here in the Porta house. Elijah's new thing is banning meal times. Getting him to the table has never been a struggle before, but suddenly it is. We have completely cut out juice and snacks between meals and that sometimes helps to make him hungry enough to come to the table willingly when it's time to eat. Sometimes not, though.
We made a trip to the park this weekend and I realized what an incredibly friendly little boy Elijah is. He says, "HI!!" to everybody at least once. It's funny how some people are receptive to his hellos and some people just aren't (how could you not be?). He loves people so much. He takes after my dad in that way. My dad is the world's friendliest person and Elijah appears to be following in his footsteps.
Well, here we go with another week! I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I'm curious to see if I will get to see my doctor and if she will remember who I am. Next week I will receive my last progesterone injection, so shortly after that we will get to see how well the shots have been working. My personal guess for when I will go into labor is May 25th. Just a weird hunch I have. Have a good week!!
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