Monday, February 28, 2011

IPV - Intermittent Percussor Ventilation

Hello everyone! I got to go see Mike yesterday. He was coughing a bit but was in good spirits. My friend Pam and I made the trip right after church. Thanks for coming with me Pam!! Good sermon by the way Pastor Nauman! I can't believe I forgot to take Mike the Lemon Meringue Pie my sister Lynnette made for him.

For our CF friends here is a clip of Mike doing his IPV treatment. This is his therapy of choice while he is inpatient. Gotta run. Blessings to you!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

7.5 Weeks!

That's how long it has been since Mike was in the hospital or on IVs. What a blessing. It has been a looooonnnnggg time since he was able to stay out that long. And now it was time to go back in.

I was very thankful to be able to get off of work and take him today. I met his new nurse practioner, Tiffany. Young woman and very nice. She listens to him. Mike did PFTs like always. On his third blow Joyce said, "Wow, Mike that one blew the other two out of the water!" I got excited. She said something about 50. Could his lungs really have gotten better? She asked him to do it again. His coughing negated that one and they had to throw it out. He did another one that she said was close to the 50. She had to leave and I waited for the printout. Mike said he felt bad and would be staying. I was actually thinking that maybe, for the first time ever, we would be packed to stay and get to go home. Then came the printout, FEV1 30%. Mike was happy it wasn't 25%. I was happy about that too but had a little glimmer of excitement thinking it could be better. We are content it isn't worse. We are thankful he continues to get better with these admissions.

All in all it was a positive admission. His weight is a little down but hanging in there. His blood pressure was excellent and his heart rate was good. His PFTs are better than he thought they would be. He did not need oxygen when we got there (still needs it at night). They accessed his port on the first try and it drew back blood (that is a huge blessing). And he got a room with a window to the outside world. Now, if Madison would just move a little closer to where we live so we could see him every day . . .

So many blessings in one day. Hope your day was full of blessings too! Peace to you.