What I had to do

Out of a hundred different scenarios I could have come up with for our first day back at doing HBOT, what happened today was not one I would have ever had on the list.

Our first dive this morning went great for Liam. He was hyper and happy and did perfect. However, I did not. I had awoken this morning with a heaviness in my right ear but thought nothing of it. But just a few short minutes into our dive my ear would not pressurize. I tried everything to get it to release and all it did was crackle louder and start sending pains though out my ear and into my jaw. I figured it would release when we came back up to regular air pressure, but it wasn't even close.

Upon completion of the dive I had the attendant look at it and she said my ear drum was very very red. Almost bloody.

They told me to head to urgent care and have them look at it.  I got a PA who said the same thing. It's very red and bloody. You should go see an ENT.

I went to the ENT where I saw another PA who said that my ear was very red and bloody. Like I didn't know that at this point!

She called the Dr. in to have a look and he said that a blood vessel had burst in my ear canal when my ear didn't pressurize right. That's why the inside of my ear drum was so bloody because the other side of it was literally filled with blood. He dives in his spare time (in actual water) and told me that I might be fine to continue on with Liam as is, it might rupture or I could quit.

Quitting was not an option.

So he volunteered one final solution: Let him puncture my drum and install a tube. There would be no more worries of trying to pressurize it and he could then vacuum out all the blood in my ear preventing me from hearing out of it.

What?

Ummm, I don't think so!

SO GUESS WHAT I DID? I went with that crazy option.

If you know me at all, needles are not my thing. I can handle them usually just fine, but once in a while I can't.

After numbing my ear he used a knife to cut the hole and then filled the hole with the tube and then suctioned out all the blood. I was super sick after that. I didn't realize it until he started telling me things and I couldn't grasp what he was saying. I apparently looked pretty pale at this point and I asked if I could have a moment to let things sink in.

It took about ten.

But after a cold compress, a fan on my face and my feet higher than my heart I got my color back.

I felt so silly.

But I really didn't like the while situation with him cutting my ear drum. I could hear it all and feel it all even though it was 'numb'.  Ewwwwww.

The blessing is that I don't have to worry about missing any dives now that this ear is free of needing to be pressurized.  My other ear started showing signs of fluid build up too but the Dr told me exactly what to do in the chamber to not have a repeat in that ear of a burst blood vessel.

We were able to continue on as planned for the second dive today.

Geeez, The things we do for our kids!

I've had several things to post about this last week and it seemed like the week got away from me before I could get anything written!

Liam had his 1 year well baby check up (a bit late since he is now 13 mo corrected) and we got another lovely weight gain so he is now a whopping 16 lbs 10 oz. I know what you're thinking... he is becoming such a chunky monkey, right? That's what I was thinking. But guess what? He isn't even ON the growth chart! Yup. He is so far below it looks like it will be a year before he even gets on it! And so as not to make me feel bad about the fact that Liam is a little lot underweight for his age, the Dr. said it would better for him to be underweight than overweight if he has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Ahem... WTH? Really?

I didn't say anything when he said that. I didn't really know what to say. But now that I have thought about it. I have a LOT to say about that...

Do you realize what you are saying? Do you realize how we have hopes and dreams and you can just deflate our hopes with one poorly thought out remark? Can you see the future? Do you have a direct line to God about what His plans are? And least of all, what difference does it make if an immobile person is overweight or underweight??? I think that would be the least of anyone's worries!

Ok- I feel better getting that off my chest! Thanks for being my sounding board.

Liam was on the chart for height, although he was only the 3rd percentile. But I really think they weren't using a preemie chart and I didn't even think to ask. Liam is still gaining and growing and that was all that concerned me at the time.

Liam also had his one year evaluation for the early intervention services he receives. It was nice and relaxed and I didn't feel it necessary for Liam to perform. I thought he did fairly well, considering his delays and I could answer many of her questions positively. He will still receive services for the next year, of course, and we are looking at maybe adding speech to his routine. Liam loved this red mirror they had and he would look at it and smile. He also tracked it very well. He tried to grab toys when she put them in front of him. I think his new glasses are really helping him focus better and see farther. Doesn't he look adorable?





Liam got a stander this past week. If I hear my PT right, we aren't using it for "standing" (I know, it is called a stander so you can work on standing) but we are going to use it for head control. He will get the benefit of standing in it and bearing weight on his legs in a proper position but it will hopefully give him the stability and response he needs from his body to lift up and work on his upper torso strength. He's vomited everytime I've put him in it, but thats because he bends over and squishes his belly while I am trying to strap him in. To make it fun for him, I tip him over backwards in it and he thinks it is quite funny. It keeps him laughing while he is in it. I don't know that we get to work on much head control when I do that.... He looks like he's posing here, huh?



My 13 yr old, Rylie, is pretty observant and noticed that Liam didn't look like his legs were the same length when he was in the stander. I just though it was because he prefers his right leg to stand on and he is now standing flat footed with that leg when he used to be on his tippy toes. I noticed it even more after she did and saw that when he stood flat on his right leg, his left foot didn't seem quite right. I mentioned it to the OT doing the eval. today and she said it did seem that his left leg was shorter. But, who knows if it is musculature or skeletal at this point. Just something else to add to Liam's laundry list.




And last but not least, we got into the Chapel Hill feeding clinic for May 18th. I don't know how God worked that one, because when I originally called they didn't have any openings until August! They told me to bring him hungry. It will be interesting to see what they have to say and if they will actually be of any help. We've coasted this far. I'd love to start cruising.