Parker Update - Day 13

We made it half the night with the nasal cannula! The cannula eventually started to hurt Parker's nose and he couldn't tolerate it anymore, so we had to switch back to the mask in the middle of the night, but that's progress, so we're not complaining.

Parker did awesome today! Once he was awake, we started out with the cannula at 6 liters of oxygen. By lunch time, he was still keeping his saturations at a good level, so we spent the rest of the afternoon gradually coming down on the oxygen. By 4:30, he was down to only 3 liters! We are so happy about this and hope that he is able to continue at this level (or less) so we can come home in the next couple of days. The doctors are also very happy with his progress. His lungs are continuing to improve as are his energy and stamina. They decided to discontinue the inhaled medicine, just in case it was the cause of the mystery hives (we haven't had any today--yea!), and they felt like it had done it's job of breaking up the junk in Parker's lungs. He will continue to have the respiratory physical therapy (the "shaky vest"), but down to twice a day instead of three times a day.

The doctors have really enjoyed getting a glimpse of Parker's personality these last few days--he is finally acting more like the happy, friendly, funny little guy he is since he is feeling so much better. The doctors and nurses all love him--the nurses actually fight over who gets to take care of him--at least that's what they tell us :)

We spent some time in the playrooms again today. On our way to the big playroom this morning, Parker said it felt good to walk. He painted a sailboat and played with toys until our oxygen tank was empty and we had to go back to our room. This afternoon we went to the smaller playroom that is just around the corner from his room. He played with play dough, painted a picture and played with toys for about 45 minutes. By then he was breathing hard, so we decided it was time to head back to our room. He was pretty worn out--I think we pushed his limit today, but he handled it fine, so it's actually a good thing!

Painting a sailboat in the playroom