Bye Bye Oxygen!

Yesterday, we received a pulse oximeter to measure Henry's oxygen saturations while he was off his supplemental oxygen. He maintained between 94 to 100 percent, which we believe is good enough to discontinue his supplemental oxygen. We still need to get confirmation from the pulminologist but for now we have him off the oxygen and I don't believe he will be going back on.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I hated the oxygen with a passion. Henry was pretty adept at pulling it out of his nose. Recently he had started to scratch at his nose and bloodied himself several times with his little but sharp fingernails. I don't know how many times I stepped on the oxygen tube while trying to move him. It was a constant annoyance that I am incredibly happy to be done with. If the pulminologist calls and says we have to put him back on, I'm going to cry. To the right is a picture of me being happy with a tubeless, wireless Henry.

Yesterday, we had a pediatrician appointment with Dr. Bianchi. Henry weighed 13lbs 11ozs on their scale. His length was 23 inches and his head was measured at 40.7cm's. The length is shorter than what he was measured at the previous week but we don't put stock in that measurement since he moves to much to get an accurate reading. Today he weighed the same on our home scale.

Dr. Bianchi's visit went well. Henry was very active and talkative during the visit. He really enjoyed kicking his feet against the paper that covered the exam table. The results from his blood test showed that his alk-phos levels were down from 673 to 445. This test indicates that the body is stripping calcium from the bones to use elsewhere and a normal value is 350. So he is making great progress there.

Henry received another vaccination. He was due for both the DTaP and PCV. Kate and I have read that it might not be a good idea to do multiple shots at once. That seems like common sense. If you take a kid with a weak immune system and inject them with 2-5 different vaccines, would it be surprising if their little systems had a hard time adjusting? So Kate asked to get them done one at a time. So in two weeks we go back to get another shot. I can't remember which one he had yesterday and which one he gets in two weeks. Henry takes shots very well. He screams when the needle is in him but recovers quickly afterward.

This afternoon he had another visit from Tara, his Department of Developmental Disabilities case worker. She had some paperwork to fill out and then observed him as he fed, played in his bouncer and did some tummy time. She was very surprised at how different he looked without his oxygen on. She did a risk assessment which basically was a list of his current issues which are now the Metabolic Bone Disease and his fragile lungs. Questions like, does he run away from home, weren't really relevant.

Yesterday Grandpa visited in the morning and Grandma came over in the late afternoon after the doctors visit. Today Grandma came by in the early afternoon because Kate had a meeting at school. Grandpa visited in the evening so that he and Henry could watch USC play Memphis in basketball.

Henry continues to sleep well. Typically he gets up around 6-6:30 am. Today he took a bottle at that time but then went back to bed until 8am. What a sleepyhead! I assume it is partly due to the vaccine.