ChloeWatts.com

Sept 25, 2010

It’s 3:42 am and Chloe and Dana are sleeping well, although I don’t know how Chloe is sleeping at all with the cold she has. It’s as bad as they get. Talk about a double wammy. You have a piece of plastic stuck in your throat and then your nose is plugged. Top that off with the trach getting plugged with some ugly junk and you have to work at each breath.

Her new breathing machine arrived yesterday and she has spent a couple hours on it already. She did great while watching TV tonight. She kept it on for an hour without any problems. The goal is to have her sleep all night with it so she doesn’t desat. Even having it on during the awake time is like a treatment and it helps her sleep and hold her stats up. So far so good tonight. Nothing scary although she sounds terrible at times.

Dana was supposed to take the night shift tonight but I was able to convince her that she needed to sleep. She just wants to do it all. She’s a great protector but she needs to protect herself as well. Hopefully tonight will recharge her batteries. The kids will be at the other house tomorrow and Sunday nights. Dana lives for Sundays when she can be away from everyone and just chill in the quiet. It’s about the only day the phone doesn’t ring off the hook from the medical areas of our life. She just puts her Please Do Not Disturb sign on the door and goes into her cave.

Tim and Kathleen continue to bless this house with some wonderful meals. Dana said tonight, it’s such a relief to know she doesn’t have to cook some nights. She can just put it out and let everyone help themselves. Even Chloe can help herself. She is doing her very best to be independent.

These nights certainly get long and I’m not sure how the night nurses do it night after night. I’m just happy we have had them or Dana would be staying awake seven nights a week.

We were going to go see the Swifts dive down the chimney tonight but Chloe really wasn’t in any shape to do that. But if anyone here in Portland has not seen this event, I highly recommend it. It’s amazing to see the aerial ballet and then the pinpointed accuracy of their dive into the safety of the large brick chimney.

Time to work on my Dave Ramsey course material. I’m scheduled to start a new class on Tuesday. Without the Financial Peace University principles neither Dana nor I would have been able to maintain through the past ten months. It’s amazing what we have been able to accomplish with so little.

Enjoy your fall and… Be Well.

Ron