A Nurse for Parker!

Parker recently qualified for some nursing and financial assistance through the state of North Carolina because of his pulmonary hypertension. We have been working on getting this assistance for the last 15 months. Parker will now have his very own private duty nurse coming 3 days a week for 4 hours each time to help care for him. This has been something we've been anticipating and dreading. It will be wonderful to have a small break from all the care that Parker requires, but at the same time, it is incredibly hard to turn over all that care that we have strictly been doing by ourselves for the last 18 months to a stranger with a nursing degree! We are hoping as we adjust to this, that it will be a good thing for all of us. Some of you may be wondering why we would even need a nurse, especially when we have managed without one for so long. Basically, Parker requires constant medical care and supervision. He takes 9 doses of medication at different times throughout each day. He has a central line IV in his chest that is connected to an infusion pump that he wears in a backpack--he must either wear the backpack or we have to hold it and follow him around. His IV medication has to be mixed and his pump changed every other day. His central line dressing has to be maintained and changed at least once a week. His oxygen saturation (the amount of oxygen in his blood) must be monitored daily. And he's 2! So, basically we rarely have any relief from his care. As one of the the case manager's we are working with said, "You are living in a pressure cooker; you won't realize this fully until you start to have some relief." So we are looking forward to that relief! Having nursing assistance is a HUGE blessing for us. We are so grateful for our Heavenly Father who is mindful of our needs and helps us get through each and every day. Parker's new nurse started on Tuesday--her name is Lula. Parker didn't want much to do with her the fisrt day until she sang the "Blue's Clues" song and then I think he figured she must be OK. They played with his toys and watched his favorite movies and when it was time for her to go, he said "Bye-Bye" and blew her a kiss--a good sign :) (I didn't dare leave the house yet...) On Wednesday, Parker was still a bit apprehensive about his new nurse, but he did let her give him 1 of his 4 medications (progress...), but he would NOT let her change his diaper and he had quite a tantrum about that. (I left for half an hour!) On Friday, Parker let Lula give him all 4 medications! I decided that I wasn't really ready to "leave" the house for the entire 4 hours, but I did tackle a big project (cleaning out our storage) so that I was still home, but Parker was in the nurse's care. They had a great time playing outside, going for a walk, having a snack, and watching movies. Lula didn't attempt a diaper change... All in good time, I suppose! So far, we really like nurse Lula. Hopefully Parker will become more comfortable with her being here to care for him (and hopefully I will too!!!). Maybe Jason and I will actually be able to go on a date once in a while since we now have a nurse that can care for Parker!