Still Bumping Along

James is still bumping up and down, but definitely requiring more oxygen then he did a week ago. The doctors would be fine with us just leaving him on oxygen, but we really like to give the poor guy a break occasionally and let him try live with a bit of freedom, so we do spend time monitoring him each day to see if and when we can allow him some time off the oxygen. Usually he gets a period before lunch, but for some reason hasn't been doing very good after naptime and into the evening. We automatically put him on the oxygen for nap time now, figuring any time we can give it to him while it's not tying him down is helpful. He still gets upset and a little worked up when we have to put the nose prongs back on, but is getting a little less wild with his arms and more accepting to the fact that the prongs come on and off during the day. We've also taught him that the machine beeping means the nose prongs go back on ... so when he hears the beeps he is somewhat prepared. He will tell the machine "stop beep" in hopes that will save him from having the prongs put back on. We are also finding that when he requires oxygen he requires more then he used to.

James continues to vomit each day, usually first thing in the morning. I have to be on the ball when he wakes because I'm usually running to catch it before we have a diaster in his bed and more work to do. Thankfully he gives a certain cough and cry before he actually starts heaving. Last night was the first time he actually did this in the middle of the night. We're not sure what to make of this vomitting as lately it's been mostly bile and very little phlegm ... yet when he starts it sounds like he's coughing and he seems to be heaving from the chest. So it could be he just can't get out what's there but the heaving is causing his stomach to throw out what's in it (which is nothing since he's j-tube fed and doesn't eat a thing by mouth). We don't really think it's his j-tube as mostly the feeds seem to be going okay, altho we did have trouble when we went to 17 hours off and had to put him back to 18 hours off per day. Yet at the same time he does every now and then each day and sometimes at nights point to his tummy and say "tummy owee" ... often pointing to the lower right side, which is where the tube goes into the intestines. But a minute after he says "tummy owee" he's off playing like nothings wrong. Wouldn't be any fun if we weren't left guessing about something ... nothing is ever straight forward!! :) On the good side, the last couple days he has not gagged when starting his treatments ...which means he hasn't thrown up then either ... possibly this is related to the fact that he's already thrown up when he woke up.

And since we've been speaking about bumpy roads ... our car will no longer be travelling down any of those. Did I say something about it not lasting much longer?? I really had hoped a little longer then a week ... but, alas, not so. Yup, when it rains it pours (if only it actually would, how we need that rain)!! They say bad things come in three ... hmmm. As of yesterday it became apparent we could no longer drive the car (harmonic balancer and a water pump) .... and so we no longer have a car ... but are in the process of working towards having two vans. Here's where buying vehicles all with the same drive line comes in rather handy, and so Rob went straight to work putting the tranny from the Buick into the old van. This was a thought we had when the van "died", but realized it wouldn't do us any good since we'd be without any vehicles while he was working on it (which is limited time considering the hours he works),and in the end we'd still only have one vehicle. Given our family circumstance one vehicle just doesn't cut it and with the van coming due for a fair amount of other work it also didn't make sense to repair it. But now, with no other choice he's doing the switch over and this should give us a 2nd vehicle until the end of the summer when Rob goes back to school (and then uses the bus). Timing of course is rather bad ... with a baby due ... well ... any day now ... and who knows how long it will take before he gets done. Since I cannot be without a vehicle, that leaves him without a vehicle ... back to the trusty bike, except that's not a wise choice for the hours he starts work, but for the time being it will have to do. I'm not sure I see a whole lot more of Rob now then when James was in the hospital ... ever since we gotten home he's either working or buried outside under a vehicle.

Meal Times
James idea of eating ... or shovelling food. Most of the time he doesn't even allow us to put a plate on his tray, occasionally it reaches his tray ... and very seldom he'll actually take a bite ... one bite is usually the limit. Instead he likes to play with his toys during meal time ... especially his excavator and dump truck (altho usually it's a bigger dump truck). He especially likes breakfast time when he can scoop and dump Captain Crunch or Rice Krispies back and forth, otherwise we just give him some blocks to play with. But ... food is definitely not something he wants.