Elephant Nose.....

Rhett has been sleeping with me the last few nights.

This translates into...I haven't been sleeping the last few nights.

At first I thought he was getting sick again. Who knows, maybe he is. But then last night as I was holding him listening to him breathe, I realized that he is having a bunch of apnea episodes again. I remember before his airway surgery this past march this same thing happening.

He is totally relaxed, and then all of the sudden his body will twitch, and he will flail his arms, and gasp. That's exactly what he has been doing the past few nights.

So I put in a call to the on call pulmonologist, and it was recommended that we try the CPAP again. She knew exactly what I was talking about. She remembers Rhett well. She had never seen a sleep study quite like his before. We were told not to get rid of the machine, because at any time he could need it again. Looks like that time has come.

Rats.

Do you know how hard it is to get a 3 year old to wear CPAP? It was bad enough when he was two. Since then he has put on some serious muscle. This kid could take me down in a heart beat. He tries every day, three times a day when he needs suctioning.

This is what Rhett's CPAP looks like.......

Kind of looks like a reverse elephant nose eh?

It sounds even worse.

We are going to get another sleep study scheduled soon, but until then we need to keep him on his oxygen, especially while sleeping, and try to get the CPAP on him.

After all, we worked so hard to get his pulmonary pressures down. We don't want them skyrocketing again.

Today I am thankful that I know Rhett's needs and can tune into his body when something isn't right. It may take me a few days to figure out what is going on, but eventually I know.