One less ml

Yesterday was a bit of an exciting day. Ethan seemed to be working a bit harder to breathe. The PT from Whitwer also noticed it when she came over. I watched him for a bit and then finally called. Of course this happens to be the week where the doctor is off the continent in St. Martin. He deserves every ray of sunshine there, but Ethan always seems to know when he is gone.

Anyway, after a couple of calls to his nurse, she decided that it would be best to bring him in just to be safe. By the time we got there, Ethan was of course looking great. Cars always run great when you take them into the shop you know. We are very happy that he is doing ok though. His PCO2 was 61, which is excellent. (by the way, I think the normal range is something like 50's-60's? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) Last Friday it was 71 if I remember correctly.

We were in the darn doctor's office until almost 9 pm last night. Ethan is usually asleep by 6 or 6:30 mind you. (Not by my choice, by the way! He just falls asleep...) They were about to let us go home when his metabolic panel came back from the lab with a potassium of 7.8 or something. It's not supposed to be over 5. So, they wouldn't let us leave and they had to do a venous blood draw. The lab techs of course couldn't find a vein, so it was not fun. They barely got enough blood and at one point even told us that they would have to do it again. Chris told them what they could do with that idea and magically the lab was able to test the blood that they already had. It's amazing what a little fortitude will get you! As it turns out his potassium was 5.1. High, but actually lower than it was at his last visit. So, the good news is that Ethan gets one less ML of meds every day! We are celebrating every single ml that goes away.

The less good news is that Ethan's weight was down a little bit. 11 lb 13 oz. It was 11-15 last Friday. Perhaps it's due to the fact that he had been throwing up this week. Mon, Tues, and finally again on Wed along with a huge poop. (Do I need to make a category for posts with poop, just so you're all warned? ha!) I really think all of the throwing up is because he couldn't poop. Poor little guy.