When Clayton was born, he was not breathing. The NICU staff resuscitated him and immediately ventilated him for his breathing. That was just the beginning of a very long road with Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). We were told he would battle this lung disease his entire life. And while the battle did rage on for years, it was when Clayton was around five years old that a doctor looked at his chest x-ray and declared there was absolutely no sign of lung disease!
At first we kept the oxygen around for the "just in case" moments. In the past when Clayton got a small cold or was dealing with allergies, he needed just a tiny bit of help keeping his oxygen saturations up. But as time went on, those instances were rarely happening. And since it had been so long since Clayton had used the oxygen, his pulmonologist told me two years ago he was not going to renew the prescription for the oxygen. Factor in the [non]-communication between doctor-hospital-TEFRA, and two years later we still had about ten oxygen tanks in our garage and an oxygen concentrator machine as well. I could have pushed the issue long before now, but to be honest, I kind of liked having them around as a comfort thing. I always thought of the "what-if" moments like his seizures he has had when he decides not to breathe. [EEK!] But you know what? Today when they called to ask if we needed any refills (why they called month after month, I don't know), I thought to myself, "self? today is the day we just let it go!" Apparently the company still had not gotten the message that the doc is okay with it, so I had to sign my life away for doing this "against medical advice." (This as the guy wipes the cobwebs off the tanks as he loads them in the truck . . .)
So there it is. Another chapter closed in Clayton's book of life. One we thought would drone on forever, and here it is getting killed off in the second season! We will live in faith that we won't have the "just in case" moments to deal with and we will pray that his lungs continue to function normally!
Thank you, Lord!
6 comments:
Such a happy post. Yah another milestone for Clayton!!
so awesome!
Happy!!!!!
I LOVE this post!
Now I have to tell you a story.
My husband has cerebral palsy. He was born 3 months premature, had several strokes, and was pronounced dead at least 3 times before he was 3 years old. He had a lot of surgeries on his legs, to lengthen the heel cords. He spent a lot of time in casts because of the surgeries. He had to re-learn how to walk.
His doctors told his mom that he'd be lucky to make it to age 30 and not be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. He is 37 now, and still going. Still working. And still able to do things with our kids.
God is great! We can't question WHY our loved ones have to deal with this, but we can trust that He knows and is taking care of them.
Clayton is truely a miracle, and I love hearing these updates.
THank you for sharing and for being a testimony for what God is doing in the lives of your family!!!
Love it!!!!! What a great day for you all!
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