Of Mochas and O2

Today we are attempting to get Miss Kaylee off oxygen so we can go home.  So far every time we have tried to do this her oxygen levels start hanging out in the mid to high 60's.  FYI, "normal" people's sats sit in the high 90's - we were happy if Kaylee's sat over 75.  That's my girl in a nut shell.  Vomiting blood with oxygen saturations 3/4 of that of the mere mortal?  Meh.  A sniffle?  Airlifted to one of the top paediatric hospitals in the world.

After several attempts to get Miss K to kick the O2 habit and maintain sats over 75 the docs are now theorising that perhaps she is just outgrowing her 3mm shunt (likely seeing as she is due for full repair this month anyway) and seeing as she seems to cope with lower sats anyway lets just take her off the O2 and watch her closely for a bit.  So we took her nasal prongs away and I got myself a jumbo mocha because by now, I have realised we are in for a loooong day.  By the time I had got myself a mocha she was sitting in the lower 50's with a touch of a colour change so we have started wafting a bit of O2.  That means sitting a mask on her chest so the air around her has a higher proportion of oxygen just so as an interm step toward being O2 supplement free.

Things that will make Kaylee set off alarms today that we don't have to worry about too much:

Filling her nappy
Wiggling too much and dislodging a probe
changing her nappy and knocking a probe
vomiting
reflux (have I mentioned how often Kaylee vomits or has reflux?  It's a lot)
getting a nose full of vomit or snot
probes deciding not to work


Things that we do have to worry about:

If her sats sit too low for too long
she stops breathing
she has a major colour change

So currently Kaylee is sitting on my lap "helping" me type as I reach up to switch of the alarm above my head which is periodically going BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG!!!!!!  or sometimes, especially if I am not fast enough, BING BING BING BING BING!!!!!!

And I am feeling quite fabulous because the caffeine from the mocha and the O2 that is wafting up over me combine to make the world a very warm, happy, fuzzy place and our nurses especially lovable.

You gotta take your kicks where you can get 'em.

Source: withlovephotography.tumblr.com via Jess on Pinterest