So far so good

Elias continues to do well the past few days, knock on wood. After speaking to his medical team and pending Dr. Wood’s (pulmonary) approval since he is on vacation this week the plan is to begin Elias on Flovent for three months as a trial. You may remember that Elias was on this inhaled steroid for quite a while until it was discontinued in August last year. It helps to reduce inflammation in the airway which may be the cause of the elusive source for these episodes. Only time will tell on that. They also are getting us some drops to put in his trach when the episodes occur or when there is a potential for respiratory illness. The name escapes me, but the pharmacy called to ask us if we knew how to administer these because they are actually ear drops. This from what we gather is a faster acting anti-inflammatory agent?

Grandma M, Aunt Kim, and Cousin Ricky are still with us for a few more days. They were able to watch how busy Elias can be with several therapies yesterday. Elias also got a chance to try his slide for the first time, which was one of his birthday gifts from Grandma M and his Great-Grandma Nanny. He really enjoys it. There is a ship wheel at the top and Elias quickly found that and was turning it as quick as he could. It was very adorable. We were all laughing and watching in amazement as he played with his Occupational Therapist on the slide. Elias also had his first opportunity to finger paint yesterday. He was actually very interested in this activity and was amazingly calm. It seemed to have a very relaxing effect on him. We all noticed his breathing relax and smooth out. He was very inquisitive as he inspected the colors on his fingers and touched things. He only tried to put his hands in his mouth once and was very interested in getting the colors onto his feet. It is an activity we can see Elias doing more and more of with many overall therapeutic benefits for him. Despite all the drama that occurred on his birthday with the breathing episodes we did manage to capture some birthday photos and also a few over the past few days. Hopefully we will get them uploaded soon so that we can share. As soon as we do have them we will be certain to post them for everyone.