New vent and new wheels

Hi everyone,

Once again we're overdue for an update. On Tuesday, Peter was switched over to the type of ventilator he will have at home. We were told it was small and quiet. As for the size, you can look at the photo of it next to the hospital ventilator and judge for yourself; it sounds like a junior Darth Vader machine. The pulmonologists tell us that as Peter grows and gains in weight and strength, we will be able to wean him off the ventilator at home. This will happen over a matter of a few months. Contrary to what I had always understood, the development of Peter's lung passages before birth was affected by his heart defect. This just means that he needs that extra time on the ventilator as his lungs continue to grow and adapt to the corrected circulation between heart and lungs.


In the meantime, discharge is starting to feel closer. We have met most of our home nurses, and the nursing agency gave us a schedule of nurses for the first month. No official word yet, but the agency chose the day after Labor Day (8 September) as a tentative discharge date for scheduling purposes. The medical equipment company will come and look at our "home environment" this Monday--mainly to see if our electrical outlets are up to snuff--and on Tuesday we will have three hours of training at home to learn about the ventilator and food pump.

Over the past couple of months it has slowly dawned upon us that our little Toyota Tercel would not be big enough to transport two boys, one with medical equipment, two parents and possibly also a nurse. Thus, for the past few weeks we have been squeezing car shopping into our schedule along with everything else, and we are now pleased to announce the result. We found a nice 1999 Honda CR-V in our price range that was so clean it looked almost like it had been brought brand new into the present in a time machine.




Now we can turn our attention to preparing the house for Peter's homecoming. His crib will go in the living room; we'll have to make space for his medical supplies and a comfortable workspace for the nurses. We're busy but very happy. Sometimes we could use a nap.