2 Brothers Layne

Oh, what to say about today? David mentioned in yesterday's post that Jonah got really upset. Well the doctors and nurses may have discovered why he is so irritable lately. Jonah has a stomach ulcer. It is causing him a lot of discomfort. The doctors have added a tube down his throat (bringing the grand total to 3). This third tube goes directly into his stomach and it is used as a vent and to give him Zantac for the ulcer. This evening when I arrived the nurse and RT (respiratory therapist) were doing his 5:00 cares and boy was he MAD. I had the opportunity to step in and offer him a bit of comfort. He seemed glad to see/hear Mommy and before too long he calmed. It's nice to know that Mom isn't totally useless. We ended the night by giving Jonah a blessing to help him with his lungs and his ulcer. Thanks Uncle Justen for your help!

Jonah has been pretty stable today on his vent settings. We learned some techniques from the Developmental Team today to help Jonah's joints from becoming diseased, arthritis or something similar to it. While we were doing his therapy at 5 pm Jonah became very upset. His heart rate shot through the roof, up to 200 beats per minute. Surprisingly Jonah still stayed in the 90% in his oxygenation levels, while remaining somewhere around 46%-49% on oxygen. For his therapy we are extending the joints of the knees, elbows,and shoulders; we are rotating the ankles and wrists. Along with extension and rotation we are also compressing them. The magic number is 5. 5 times each for 5 seconds. It amazed me how very upset Jonah can get. I bet he gets his anger issues from his mother (Ha Ha Ha). Jonah's feeding tube has changed places. It has been in his stomach, and they have pushed it down into his small intestine. This should help prevent any reflux issues now and in the future. ...