Yes, really, oh my goodness, the ventilator has left the building! Our home medical company came to pick it up yesterday and I almost fell out of my chair. Well, actually I shed a few tears, laughed out loud, smiled from ear to ear, and had serious butterflies in my stomach :) The crazy part is that the butterflies were both the happy and nervous type, it was some kind of party!
IT'S GONE! It really is hard to believe. Even though Samuel has not needed the ventilator every day of his life, it has never been more than 10 yards from him... ever in his entire life. Even though he hasn't used it at home since December 9th, it has still been here, just in case. We have reached a new level of wellness! And, quite honestly, we are so well that if we need a ventilator at this point, we would need to be in the hospital because something has gone terribly wrong... we're not headed there, but that's how far we have come :)
What does this mean? Besides a heck of a lot of empty space in Samuel's room :) It means Samuel's lungs are healing! He still has a trache, and is connected to oxygen through his HME (heat/moisture exchange) for about an hour a day, wears his passy muir speaking value with no extra oxygen about nine hours a day, and is on extra oxygen and the trache collar during his nap time and at night.
It's hard to explain why there was nervousness with the vent leaving. I guess the simplest way to put it is that even though we haven't used it, and I realize if we did need to use it we would also be calling 9-1-1... I had it as backup. I know, I know, it's exciting we don't need that kind of backup anymore! But it's a very strange feeling not to have it. We're moving forward, which is excellent, but we're also moving into a new territory both for Samuel and DB and me. We know how to take care of our vent baby... and our HME baby... and now our passy muir baby... and with every new step comes more freedom for Samuel to be a normal baby, and more opportunities for us to focus on being parents rather than nurses. With every new step also comes those nervous butterflies that say please, God, help me do this right. He has been pretty darn miraculous so far, so I have no doubt He will help us with the next steps, too :)
IT'S GONE! It really is hard to believe. Even though Samuel has not needed the ventilator every day of his life, it has never been more than 10 yards from him... ever in his entire life. Even though he hasn't used it at home since December 9th, it has still been here, just in case. We have reached a new level of wellness! And, quite honestly, we are so well that if we need a ventilator at this point, we would need to be in the hospital because something has gone terribly wrong... we're not headed there, but that's how far we have come :)
What does this mean? Besides a heck of a lot of empty space in Samuel's room :) It means Samuel's lungs are healing! He still has a trache, and is connected to oxygen through his HME (heat/moisture exchange) for about an hour a day, wears his passy muir speaking value with no extra oxygen about nine hours a day, and is on extra oxygen and the trache collar during his nap time and at night.
It's hard to explain why there was nervousness with the vent leaving. I guess the simplest way to put it is that even though we haven't used it, and I realize if we did need to use it we would also be calling 9-1-1... I had it as backup. I know, I know, it's exciting we don't need that kind of backup anymore! But it's a very strange feeling not to have it. We're moving forward, which is excellent, but we're also moving into a new territory both for Samuel and DB and me. We know how to take care of our vent baby... and our HME baby... and now our passy muir baby... and with every new step comes more freedom for Samuel to be a normal baby, and more opportunities for us to focus on being parents rather than nurses. With every new step also comes those nervous butterflies that say please, God, help me do this right. He has been pretty darn miraculous so far, so I have no doubt He will help us with the next steps, too :)
Farewell old friend!
Samuel and mama saying goodbye.
The vent, the vent accessories, and the ventless boy :)(Water bags, heater chambers, power cords, backup batteries, tubing, inline heaters, etc.)
Where there's a celebration, there are always three babies!
1 comment:
Go God!!!! What awesome wonderful fabulous news!!
Love to you all!
Pam
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