xygen Therapy (HBOT). The clinic asked us to come in at 7:30 every morning, but knowing that would be extremely difficult, Debbie asked for a later appointment. We were given 8:00. So every morning the sleeping brothers are wake begrudgingly, to be yanked from their warm beds, dragged across town and into the doctor's office. Avi already loves it. He has made friends with Tolesa (though he calls him Ah-ah-es-ah), Shane and Shawn (his favorite). They are the technicians who check his temperature, blood pressure and O2 sats. They also slide him into the tube and run it while the doctor comes and goes.We told him that its a rocket ship so he wouldn't be scary for him, but he didn't seem to need it. He loves being slid into the tube, and getting to watch his favorite DVD's for an hour. For us though, things are a little different. We get to watch him without being able to do anything. We can hear him through a speaker and talk to him through a phone and of course see him through t
he glass (acrylic actually), but we can't touch him or do anything to help him. Today he suddenly decided to stand up and all I could do is watch as he hit his head on the top. Then he cried and cried and couldn't get a kiss or a hug or even a tissue. He actually calmed down very quickly, but still its hard to watch.On the whole though, it goes really well. He loves the people and the experience and is really learning the routine.
Itai is slightly less interested in the whole thing. The place is covered in knobs and buttons and he can't touch any of them! It's horrible. He plays along, but it is difficult for him to wait so long. He is really interested in what his brother is doing in the tube and how he can get in there with him. He spent quite a bit of time pulling on the bar, feeling around the tube and looking for a way in.
Every morning Avi gets really excited to go to the doctor's office and go in the tube. Three dives down, 17 to go!
4 comments:
Wow, Jared, that's cool that he actually likes it. It was pretty clever of you two to call it a rocket ship! Avi's such a good boy! I'm sorry he hit his head. Guess he learned not to try to get up though. And Itai is being really patient to sit there through it all. Do you read books to him? I think it's wonderful that you have the opportunity to have hyperbaric treatments for Avi!!!
I'm glad Avi likes it. That would be so hard to do over and over if he cried every time. Poor Itai though. Hospitals aren't easy places to keep little ones entertained without touching so many things. I was going to ask if you needed me to come up and watch Itai at your house, but I take the girls to school at 8:10 so by the time I get up there it wouldn't do much good. Sorry.
You go every morning, so you'll be done in 17 days? I was thinking it was longer term treatments. So how can you tell if it is working?
Thanks for thinking of us Valerie. We're trying to make it easy on Itai, but I guess its a good chance for him to learn patience early. :) Tiffany, we go five days a week, so three weeks left. At that point we evaluate progress and decided on whether we think more are warranted or not. Admittedly, we made a mistake in starting HBOT so closely to the begining of his new preschool, but the preschool opened up unexpectedly! We'll be looking for improvements in speech, behavior and social function.
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