Olivia’s 1:30am Update: No News is Good News

For the first time in what seems like a long time, there’s not anything significant occurring.

Breathing treatment is done for the night, pain meds done, nursing assessment done, one nap down and another on the way for Olivia. I finally had some food that had been sitting in the fridge since 2pm. In another few hours we’ll be taking x-rays, drawing blood, and seeing what the next twelve hours holds.

Breathing treatment: Some of you don’t really know what this means, so I’ll take a minute to explain. Depending on the age and understanding of the patient, a treatment plan may be suggested to help a patient regain adequate respiratory function. This could be two minutes of blowing a pinwheel every hour, or it could be forced-air inspiration, which is the treatment Olivia is getting.

Every six hours a respiratory therapist comes in the room and turns on a big machine. The machine has a tube hooked to a large, soft-seal mask that is placed over her nose and mouth. The machine begins a rhythm that forces a large volume of air into and out of Olivia’s lungs for about fifteen minutes. It is basically forced deep-breathing.

It is not painful, but it isn’t comfortable either. She whines in rhythm with the air pulses, but never increases her tone because it doesn’t hurt. After it’s done she can usually take a little nap, which is nice for her.

We’ll find out more within five hours after all the tests are run for the morning and the physicians make their rounds.