Tuesday, March 23, 2010

All about the Oxygen

Today's struggle has been with Gwen's blood oxygen saturation.  For most people it's around 95% or higher, Gwen has been around 70%.   At times today it dropped down to 50%, the first time it caused a mad scramble.  The doctors can see in her morning x-ray that part of her lung is collapses, that can be treated with Chest PT or putting her back on the vent.   I actually got to do the Chest PT for a while, which felt good to be part of her treatment.

It could also be influenced by the amount of fluid in her body.  She gained a lot of fluids in the surgery, and have slowly being loosing them.  They can add pressure on her lungs. She is now on a stronger diarrhetic.

We came in after dinner and she's up to 85%.  Perhaps her lung has expanded?  We'll find out when they see her morning x-ray.

Also, she's crying!  I'm sure most parents one week after having a baby would rather not hear more crying, but while she was on the vent she didn't make any noise.  It makes her more real to me.

Pray that her O₂ stats go up.

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