Real Swimming

As many of you know, Parker has a permanent Broviac Catheter in his chest and an IV pump that administers medication for his PH continuously. Because of this, Parker has never been able to spend much time in the water. We've gotten creative over the years and let him do a few things, but he's never really had the experience of splashing and playing in a pool or going underwater. Recently, a family of another child with PH who passed away a few years ago, graciously gave their child's barely used drysuit to Parker. The drysuits are specially made for children with medical issues and come custom made from the UK. Unfortunately, they are quite expensive, which is why we never ordered one for Parker. I'm sure it was not easy for this family to give their daughter's things away, but we are so grateful to them and their willingness to pass the drysuit onto Parker so he could experience real swimming for the first time!

Getting the drysuit on was a challenge, to say the least! The rubber around the arms, legs, and neck has to be very snug so the water won't get in. With both Jason and I working together, we eventually got it on Parker. He was SO excited to try it out and he was not disappointed. He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED swimming! We bought a pool to try at home first--it's about 10 feet long by 7 feet wide and 2 feet deep, so big enough for him to splash and play and go underwater! It did our hearts good to watch him swim and not have to worry about his IV pump. The drysuit worked great! So now we're ready to try it out at a real pool--Parker can hardly wait!!