ChloeWatts.com

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Colds have been going around this week. First Colin, then Dana, and then Chloe. It was probably a bit more than a cold as everyone had body aches and respiratory gunk going on. Having a trach and a cold is a bit different than just blowing your nose and coughing. Chloe needs to clear her trach by huffing out through the trach or having us suction her. It’s an art form that she has become quiet adept at. But, as she’d say, don’t try this at home…

Tuesday was our therapy day. First is Beth who tortures Chloe with a little typing to start things off. After a couple typing games it’s off to the kitchen to cook something requiring a bit of opening packages, mixing and finally, cooking. Gym is next where she usually rides a swing of some sort while catching moving objects.

Speech is next with Steve and Sierra, and they are becoming quite the tag team. Mikes drive-in was the menu this week. There were tater tots, fries, a burger and strawberry shake. If you’d like a visual of what the end of the session looks like just throw all of them in a blender and put a cup of slime in before blending well. Homework is always interesting when we come home from there. Added to the agenda is a little bit of swallowing. We’ve been doing this for a couple weeks now but each time it gets a little bit easier. She is getting some of it to go to the stomach rather than the windpipe, A much more desirable destination.

Mr. Black, Chloe’s teacher, put together a podcast of his class. On it is a story written by Chloe, followed by one of her favorite songs. If you’d like to hear it just go to: mrblacksclass.podomatic.com, date for June 6. Her part is 19 minutes from the beginning and you can just move the curser ahead to the right time if you want to just hear her story. It is read by two of her good friends. Or you can go to Dana’s facebook page and find it on her wall.

Today we were off to see Chloe’s GP, Dr. Smita T. I love the name, even though I can never remember how to spell it. We were a bit concerned since the secretions have been pretty colorful lately. To boot we also have a night nurse who has come down with a staff infection on her leg. No chance taking here, we want to know right up front if we need to fight something. Her lungs sounded very clear and we were able to get a good sample to culture. They ruled out another x-ray, thank you God. She has had way too many of those already.

Getting to the doctor’s office was delayed a little when we loaded into the car and it wouldn’t start. I threw the charger on it and in a few minutes we were rolling. Not really sure what was going on but it charged so we go there and back again. The battery is probably at the end of its life. We’ll check it ASAP. When we backed into the driveway Dana noticed one of the school crossing guards who looked familiar. In a second or two she determined it was Jethro. So I got out, hollered hello Jethro, and told him I liked his youtube. Chloe had sent it to me a few months ago because I always tease her about a guy named Jethro must wear bib overalls and wear a straw hat. She beat me up then, and, if the door hadn’t been shut, would have beat me up again today. It did get her out of her funk for the afternoon though. She’s fun.

We are looking forward to the nice weekend. We’ll try to keep cool for the nights. Hope all of you can also.

Be well,
Ron