A Raging River

Between the antibiotics and the steroids, that's exactly what we have - a raging river (and not in a good way!). The steroids have done a fantastic job of decreasing the inflammation in Mason's lungs. He is moving more air and breathing a little easier - well, at least he is when he's calm.

Imagine if you will, the worst case of PMS you've ever seen. Then, imagine thinking it will never go away - ever. Then, imagine on top of the raging PMS, you've eaten some bad food and your stomach and intestines are in knots. Well, I think that's got to be what Mason's going through. He is very irritable, short tempered, and restless. We know it's from the steroids and antibiotics and we know it's worth it, we just have to remind ourselves of that on a fairly frequent basis and do everything we can to help him through it. Thankfully, he does calm down for little bits of time if I hold him and rock him. or we distract him with books and toys, or just drug him with ibuprofen. Without question, we do know the steroids are working, though. Mason was able to come down to 2.5L of oxygen last night while sleeping and his heart rate was much lower than normal for him. He was finally able to relax, breathe, and sleep more easily! Today, during an ibuprofen induced nap, he got down to 1.5L of oxygen. It's really nice to see him breathing easier and makes the tantrums and tirades more manageable.

It's hard to hope that we are able to repeat this in a month or so, but that's what we are hoping for. Perhaps then, without the addition of the antibiotics, he will not be so uncomfortable, so maybe, just maybe the raging won't be as bad. I just have to remember, its worth it to help him breathe easier even for a short time.