Another Small Battle Won!

Finally!! A while back I remember having said that we were looking into getting Kaitlyn a second cough-assist. I cannot even begin to imagine what would happen if something were to go wrong with Kaitlyn's machine! We use it so much, and it's not uncommon for her to need to cough at some point through the odd night! In an emergency...it NEEDS to work!

NIV isn't very popular in Nova Scotia, and I personally know of no other person using an NIV protocol in my own province. Our hospital has ONE cough-assist which they use sporadically with limited ability and therefore limited success. They of course blame the effectiveness of the machine!! The cough-assist at the hospital is kept locked in an office of PT. So if we had an emergency and needed the machine off hours we would have to wait for the on call PT to answer a page, call back, get into the hospital, bring us the machine, and then I'm sure argue with us about how it should be employed!! I'm not sure that Kaitlyn would ever live through an aspiration without a working cough-assist used at a moments notice!

Anyway, our social worker called and told us that our request for a second cough-assist was approved. Our first cough-assist came from MDA. They have been awfully good to us!! This new machine is coming from the government. It is such a relief to know that soon we will have a back-up! We have never been taught how to use an ambubag. Something that I think we will remedy very soon, but Kaitlyn has never tolerated this very well. This could be because any time one was introduced she was already pretty sick and scared. I'm thinking that if Tim and I learn how to use an ambubag that perhaps Kaitlyn could learn to cooperate somewhat, at least until we could get to a cough-assist!

Thought that I would share the good news with the ones that support us the most! Take care everyone....Spring is coming!!

This is Kaitlyn sitting in her corner seat! I finally remembered that the supports in the back come apart and can be lengthened to add a little room for growth. The chair is at it's maximum allowance, but it will work for a short time more. She loved sitting up getting a new perspective. She tolerated this position for a half an hour before getting a little tired and chokey. I didn't push her. I thought that was really good for not sitting up for months!!

Laughing at, what else, Dora!!!

She got a kick out of the tray. She fingered a little unicorn and her disney fairy!