Meet the Machines

Even though I dream about getting rid of these every single day I still want to remember them. I don't know what for, but I know that I do. So without further ado here are the "machines" as Boston calls them.

This is our Oxygen concentrator. If you happen to come over and this is on it means Carter is being too stingy with his O2 or one of the boys is asleep. It has become the "white noise" at our house. It only goes down to 1/8 of a liter of O2. Most the time kiddos drop the O2 after that, but our little Carter prefers to go the easy weaning route.

This is the portable O2 tank or the "easy weaning" tank. If you come over and it's quiet it's because Carter is doing good on the O2 and requiring none or a 1/16th or 1/32nd of a liter. We also have miniature ones of these that we take out with us when he needs it.

This is his IPV machine. It's what we use to give him his breathing treatments. It puffs really hard quick bursts of air into his chest to break down any junk he has building up in his lungs. This one is new from when we left the hospital in November and it was a total shocker. You forget sometimes that what you use at the hospital almost never is what you use at home. The one we used there was the size of a 4x6 picture and not too noisy. So needles to say I was a little shocked when they brought over the very loud Green Monster. Most importantly though is that Carter LOVES this one. The IPV feels so good to him and I think he likes the extra help breaking up the junk.

This is the Suction bag. It goes EVERYWHERE with us. I probably hate this one the most. Another shocker to us. The hospital suction stuff is pretty quiet because it's hooked up to the wall. Not this baby it sound like a lawn mower starting and is sure to scare kids away. =) I don't think I would hate it as much if Carter were on the normal end of suctioning. Normal is having to suction every 1-2 hours, Carter we are doing really good if it's every 20 minutes. We have no idea why he needs to be suctioned so much, but he sure does. Maybe it has something to do with his airway. Hmmmm?

This is his pulse oximeter. We are supposed to have it hooked to his foot 24 hours a day. We don't. We have it on him all night, during naps, and spot check him throughout the day. It lets us know if he is receiving enough oxygen. His saturation level should be 95+, but he for whatever reason he loves 93 so he is usually 93+. This one makes me a little crazy sometimes. It will alarm if he takes a deep breath, sneezes, kicks his foot too fast, or for no reason at all. It will read that his saturation level is in the 60-70's or that his heart rate is 50. Believe me I know what a saturation level of 60 looks like and thankfully he doesn't ever go there for real. Definitely not my favorite sound to wake up to multiple times during the night.

This is his humidifier. We don't use it anymore thank goodness. It is SO loud! We would hook it up to his trach to keep it moist and avoid it from getting to dry in his throat. How Trav and I ever slept trough this one I have no idea.

This is the feeding pump. We put the milk in the top bag and it allows us to give him his food over a certain programed time. Pretty sure this guy will be around for a while.

Anyways totally boring, but there ya have it. I really do have a love hate relationship with these machines. They allow us to do things for Carter that help keep him home and healthy. I am very thankful for them, but definitely won't miss them.