10/17/06: Day 95 (Tues.) Tucson Doctor Visit

We were hoping for good news from the pulmonary doctor (Dr. Morgan)...it wasn't the news we had hoped for, but it was good news. We had hoped to hear the words "he doesn't need the O2 anymore"...we didn't. :-(

His appointment was scheduled for 11:30am and we got there about 15 minutes early. We were so happy when they called us right away and they did all the usual stuff (weight/length check, took his temperature). Well, they put us in one of the exam rooms and we waited, and waited. T's stomach growled louder and louder. Then Evan was hungry, so we gave him his bottle.

Dr. Morgan's nurse finally came in about 12:30pm to do all the preliminary paperwork (stuff that we though they should have had already such as his birthdate, when he was discharged from UMC, etc..). She gave us much of the same information we already knew such as not taking him into malls or crowded places to reduce his chance of picking up any funk. She tested his O2 saturation (the thing we have all been waiting for) while he was on the O2. He was maxed out, as we expected. Then, we took the O2 off, held our breath and watched the monitor numbers. He averaged about 92-93% on room air in Tucson. Pretty good! The nurse thought maybe the doctor would allow us to take him off the O2 during the day and put him back on at night to give him a little push.

Dr. Morgan came in with a medical student by his side. Nice guy, very friendly. He checked Evan's lungs and said they sounded great. Yeah! No crackling! I am assuming from the results of Evan's O2 saturation that the doctor did not give us the green light to take him completely off. He would rather keep weaning him down (at least that will save us a little on switching out the O2 tanks as frequently). When we take Evan to Dr. Vedock's for his weight check, we'll have them test his O2 saturation at 1/8 liter (he's on 1/4 right now). Dr. Morgan said he is really close to coming off the O2, but he still couldn't give a definitive time frame. It's all due to altitude at this time. If we lived closer to sea level, he would already be off.

So, our little guy is still tethered to his tank. We have to go back to see Dr. Morgan in December. I would hope by then he would give us the go ahead to remove the O2.

Here's the weight check for ya Joey!!

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** Weight Check: 8lbs. 1 oz
** Length: 20.25 inches
Chronological age: 3 months 1 weeks and 4 days
Adjusted/developmental age: 4 weeks and 3 days
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