Just In Time

This past weekend I was able to get away for some fun and scrapbooking in WI with some friends. We had an amazing time and I "caught up" on James' scrapbook. Sunday evening I got home at 6 and James was breathing a little harder than normal. When an allbuterol nebulizer didn't seem to do much to help him I took him to the ER. I was a little apprehensive because we haven't been to the ER or Children's Hospital here in Fargo yet. The staff was amazing. Even though the ER was jam packed with people we were in a room in 5 mins, saw a doctor 5 mins later and had a Respiratory therapist giving a nebulizer 5 mins later. Within an hour James was in his room in PICU with his I'VE in place and put on BiPap. BiPap is similar to CPap and is used to help keep his airway open and move air a little better. We think it was an asthma attack but they're still giving antibiotics as a precaution. He's on a continuous nebulizer of allbuterol and getting steroids through his IV. For now the plan is to slowly wean off the allbuterol and see how he does with that. They tried being off the BiPap around 2 am and he didn't do well.
Surgery for tubes and adenoids was planned for tomorrow but now the plan is to hopefully do it right before he's discharged.
It seems I got home just in time and James to the ER just in time to avoid the ventilator.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

In the past we've had this problem with James and of course it has resurfaced. Way back in fall of 2010 we noticed that James was snoring and skipping some breaths while sleeping. We went to see the pediatrician and she referred us to neurology to have a sleep study done to determine if James had obstructive sleep apnea. Before that could happen poor little James ended up in the ER for breathing difficulties. Later that night it got so bad James had to be intubated. It was determined that he would need his tonsils and adenoids out. They knew that wasn't the whole problem but they did know that it was part of the problem and if he did have obstructive sleep apnea he'd probably have to have them removed in the future. So they did a tonsilectomy and partial adenoidectomy. We were told that if a total adenoidectomy was done it could interfere with how James eats and we didn't want to mess with it.

So now here we are and James' snoring has come back full force and he's skipping breaths while sleeping etc. Last week we saw ENT here in Fargo to be evaluated for it. While we were there he was noted to have fluid on his ears and he needs tubes put in. While he's under anesthesia they'll also take a look at his adenoids. Some of the tissue may have grown back and that's why he's snoring again. If need be they'll also do an adenoidectomy that day. We are scheduled for surgery on February 21st. Hope all goes well. As usual I'm more worried about James after the anesthesia. That seems to be the worst part for him because of his asthma. It is planned for an outpatient procedure but is obviously dependent on how James wakes up.

Monster Jam

Last Saturday we took James and his little brother Elliot to Monster Jam at the Fargodome. It was a pretty good experience for us all. It was our first time going to a big event like this with Janes in his wheelchair

James absolutely loved it! He watches it pretty frequently on tv with his dad in the evenings. He hated when they would stop to switch events. They had Quad racing in between the monster trucks and I think he liked those even better! He had the hugest smile on his face most of the time. I sat in handicapped seating with him, while Andy and Elliot sat a few rows behind us. There was a couple next to us in handicapped seating and they couldn't stop commenting on how much he loved it! Of course we needed to protect his ears from all that loud noise. Although James has hearing loss he can still hear some things and we want to protect his little ears from any more damage that could occur. Wouldn't you know he hated the ear plugs! I tried a coupl different sizes among other things and he just didn't like them. I resorted to taking his hearing aides apart and just using the mold part of them (the part in his ear). I'm not sure how much they helped though because there are holes in the molds to allow for the sound from the amplifier to go through. It must not have been too bad because he didn't seem bothered by the noise. All in all we did good. We didn't have too many difficulties getting around with James' chair and the kids were in a pretty good mood considering it was naptime. Hopefully next year we can go again!