Posted May 23, 2007 8:42pm

Today has been a good day, and a very busy day. We left the house at about 11:30 this morning and did not return until near 5:00 this evening. What a day!...

We spent a little over 2 hours at the pulmonologist's office. Of course we had to fill out the pile of paperwork, and then sign a few more, copy insurance cards, answer a few questions, etc., etc. Then we were sent downstairs to radiology for Ryan to have a chest x-ray. Of course when we walked into that office we had to fill out the pile of paperwork, and then sign a few more, copy insurance cards, and answer a few more questions. He had a couple of chest x-rays done, and he did well. He only complained a little from being stretched out straight with no squirming allowed. Then we went upstairs to the doctor's office again. The nurse measured his O2 saturation and he was satting at 99%. Woohoo! The doctor asked a handful of questions, listened to his lungs and his heart. He then had us turn down Ryan's oxygen to 1/4 lpm. He left the room for a while and looked at Ryan's x-rays, and he returned about 15 minutes later. They measured his O2 saturation again, and he was still satting at 96% at a lower oxygen setting. The doctor explained that the x-rays showed what is expected for kids with BPD and explained that as Ryan grows his lungs will begin to look/function better. He said he wanted us to keep Ryan at 1/4 lpm with the exception of turning the O2 up to 1/2 lpm during feeding and sleeping. (I was thinking okay...all he ever does is eat and sleep.) He clarified...1/4 lpm during the day and 1/2 lpm during the night and during feedings. We return to the pulmonologist in 4 weeks.

After leaving the pulmonologist's office we went to Mercy to have labwork drawn per orders of the pediatrician. The doctor was wanting to have his hemoglobin and hematocrit levels checked this week. This little excursion was relatively uneventful other than the poor little guy had to have his heel stuck. He protested a little.

Today was the busiest day we've had since leaving the NICU. We were actually away from the house for 5 1/2 hours! Ryan seemed to tolerate the day very well. He is such a big boy!

(New Pictures)