Thursday, July 3, 2008

Go with the flow (low-flow that is)

Tyler is doing great! Today at rounds we decided to try moving from hi-flow to low-flow for his respiratory assistance. In recent days he has been really starting to swing his Oxygen saturation. We were concerned that this may be related to the pressure in his head, but on closer inspection we think it was the humidity from his high-flow condensing and flowing up into his nose. I don't know about you but I have a hard time breathing when I get water up my nose.

Most of the time he is doing really well but the swings were starting to become a concern. Low-flow is 100% O2 at a much lower volume. He was getting 1 Liter per minute of 21%(room-air) on high-flow, now he's getting 100% but at a much smaller rate (25 cc/min). Without the humidity he seems to be doing just fine.

I just did the math and Tyler has made so much progress that he has now reduced his oxygen intake more than you or I would going from sea-level to the top of Mt Everest (without supplemental Oxygen). He started at 42%, he is now at 25%

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a good looking little boy! I have been in NY since saturday, and had no access to the blog, I thought I was going to go crazy...
keep it up guys....
A-

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the new pictures. When I said there were new pics Sheri and mom came running to the computer!! He is so beautiful. See you in a little more than a week.
love
Niffer

Anonymous said...

Great pictures! It's the first time I've gotten a good look at his face and he's wonderful. Hang in there.
Love,
Beth

Anonymous said...

Any signs of the back ordered butt cheeks yet?

Gib and Abby Brogan said...

That was awesome, a real bath. We are still waiting for ours. It is amazing how the little things in most kids lives are the milestones we strive for. Ellie was the 6 pound thug in the NICU. And your Nicu parent stats were right on.
Abby