Wow...if you didn't already know, we have completely weaned Lane off of oxygen! It was an extremely hard task because I had to slowly let his body get used to working without it. I believe that the medication, viagra cialis online pharmacy pharmacy, which is treating his pulmonary hypertension is the reason for this to be possible. I noticed a decrease in his heart rate, and an increase in his O2 stats over the months of him being on it. We started him on it after he had the heart cath. procedure done in January. I can't even explain how exhilarating it is to not be tied down to an oxygen machine anymore!
Here's a little background on how Lane became dependent on the oxygen. We brought Lane home from the hospital at 9 days old not needing any oxygen at all. We did have oxygen supplied through the Hospice company, but it was only there if we needed it. We did use it whenever Lane would have his "blue spells" and we also used it after his major episodes requiring CPR, but not on a full time basis. Then when Lane was about 5 months old he was admitted into the local children's hospital for a respiratory virus. It wasn't RSV because I asked, and I was familiar with that because Codie had it at 6 months old. They told me it was a virus that couldn't be treated by an antibiotic so we would have to let it work itself out. (I still have my questions about that!) Anyway, Lane's body needed to be on oxygen because the congestion was blocking his airway. The hospital stay was about 5 days, although they tried to get me to leave sooner. At this point, I had gotten pretty good at standing up for Lane. I had been pushed around so many times that I informed them I wasn't leaving until I felt comfortable! So we stayed until I felt he was stable, and that I had a suction machine at home to be able to keep his airway clear. It took almost a month for him to fully recover from the virus, and when I felt like he was ready to get weaned off I tried. It just wasn't happening, so I just accepted the fact that Lane would need oxygen for the rest of his life. Then the sildenafil came into the picture around January, and with the noticeable changes in his stats I got the confidence to try again and he did it! Does this mean there won't be a point when he'll need it again? The answer is...I just don't know.
~A picture of Lane during his hospital stay with the virus.~
