💫 Facebook Update on James' Progress

Update on James' progress! February has been great so far!

The 1st week his Pulmonologist decreased his ventilator settings from a PEEP of 10 to 8! Normal PEEP is at a 5. The next wean would be to 6 and then 5. For perspective, James was at a 16 PEEP in the NICU so this is a great improvement! Since peep has a whole new meaning these days, this is what I'm talking about...PEEP is the pressure in the lungs at the end of each breath, holding your lungs open. PEEP prevents your lungs from completely emptying and collapsing. If your lungs collapsed there would be incomplete inflation on the next breath and reduced oxygenation. To learn more, feel free to use the search bar at the top of our blog.

AND this past week James had a bronchoscopy done (a very small camera that looks down his trachea) and his tracheomalacia has healed. This means no more flappy airway. His trachea is stable! This means we can use standard trachs and don't have to worry about insurance not approving custom ones. It's much easier to find standard trachs online.

James recently went to the Zoo and Aquarium! These were his first outings, that were not appointments. He had his first "tastes" of food. He is now reaching for things and understanding cause and effect. We are currently working on object permanence, destructive play, sitting up 100% on his own, rolling over, the dreaded tummy time, pincer grasp, and object manipulation. At the end of March he will be tested on a lot of these for his 15 month checkup, even though he is already in 18 month clothing!

At the end of this month we are making a trip to Jacksonville to visit family. This will be James' first roadtrip! Approximately 4 hours and lots of packing. There is a very detailed and color coded spreadsheet of medical supplies I've been working on for 2 months. If you're in Jax and want to meet up please reach out to me or Juju and let's get together!