I'm 17 Months Old Today and Sick Again!!

Poor little Mason is not feeling well! He has a new fever and a nasty cough with wheezing and some labored breathing at times (especially at night!) In fact last night I debated on taking him to Primary's emergency room. He could not sleep at all because his cough was so bad and thus causing his little body to work pretty hard! We had come down slowly over the last week on his O2 to about 1 1l2 liters but last night had to go back up to 2 liters. I have increased his breathing treatments to every 4 hours (advice from my friend here in highland who is a PICU cardiac nurse...... thank-you for the house call, because I'd already been to our pediatrician enough this week!) and that does seem to be helping. We are not sure if this is from the pneumonia or something new.



Why had we been to the pediatrician already enough this week? My three oldest kiddos have taking turns w/ strep throat this week and I had taken Mason in for his cough earlier in the week as well. And actually his lungs sounded okay then, but now they sound pretty bad! Why we've got the sickies again is beyond me, because we are so good about hand washing and sanitizing!!! My hope right now is that Mason can get better at home and not need a "week-end getaway at the Hotel on the Hill" again. I know this respiratory stiff is taxing on his heart right now so I am praying he can kick it soon.




His new heart meds do seem to be helping his heart function, because his purple lips and finger tips don't look so purple and his overall coloring looks better. All though I think his lower heart function is definitely affecting his immune system, making it even harder now for him to fight infections off. In fact after his echo, 3 weeks ago Dr. Saarel advised us to be even more careful now with Mason, not going in crowds, being around other children, etc... because of his heart condition at this time. And we thought when May came we would start venturing out a little more....church, family gatherings w/ cousins...etc....but not now!!



I am proud of Mason though, he has gotten used to the Oxygen and rarely pulls the cannula out of his nose now. Occasionally I'll catch him w/it down in his mouth chewing on it though! it is on a 50 ft cord hooked up to the O2 concentrator, so he crawls all over (well except for these last few days he only wants to be held) the house until he has wrapped himself up into a big tangle and then begins to cry cuz the cord and cannula are squeezing his little face. He does love to go for walks outside, so I just stick a portable tank in the wagon or stroller and he is happy! But on this much Oxygen the little tanks empty out real fast!



Next Thursday he has another sedated echo and an appointment w/ cardiology. We are praying the echo shows improved heart function. I will update after the echo. Also I have some cute pictures from this last month, but my computer still won't let me load them onto blogger so I will have to do it later with Mark's computer. I better go I have a baptism to plan, Preston is getting baptized tomorrow (It is noon on Friday now, I never finished the post yesterday) Life is Busy!



Here is my quote of the week...."It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it" by: Lena Horne I came across this quote last week and I needed to hear it for
sure :-)