Possum's Sleep Study

Possum had yet another sleep study at the children's hospital in the city to check on his night time oxygen saturations.  Once his over night levels are high enough he will be able to come off oxygen at home.  We have our fingers crossed that this study will show that he is coping well enough to come off.

The studies are tough on the little ones.  They are hooked up to all manner of things and they just don't understand.  Possum was quite upset whilst they were sticking everything on him :(  However he soon calmed down once offered a breast feed and went off to sleep.

Possum all wired up and asleep.

He woke several times over night, nursed and went straight back to sleep.  Much better than the last study!  Last time he cried on and off from 7pm until after midnight when he finally fell asleep properly and then slept in 40 min cycles until 6am when it was time to go home.

He woke up for good at 5am so we got up and started our day.  I was hoping that he'd last until 6am because we had a 10am appointment with cardiology so although i know they kick you out by 6.30am i wasn't really keen to get an early jump on the day.

We headed off on a big walk and then stopped at Miss Maud's for breakfast once they opened.

Possum enjoying some green potato rosti and corn puffs for breakfast.

We walked on to a local park hoping that i could let Possum loose to burn off some energy.  Sadly the playground was closed for maintenance and the grassed areas had just been watered.  Doesn't pay to get such an early start.  We did spy some birds though.

Two rainbow lorikeets squabbling over a branch.

These birds whilst beautiful to look at are an introduced species.

We walked on further and found a nice grassed area outside an office block and the grass was dry.  It was right by a busy road.  I wonder what the commuters thought of Possum and I playing on the grass so early in the morning.

Such a cutie with no tape on his face!

We got back to the hospital for our 10am appointment with cardiology and they surprised me with an echo.  Possum had a sedated echo in December and i thought that was it for a while.  But no they decided they had better double check if possible incase the sedative had given some incorrect readings on the pulmonary pressures.  Possum was a star!  I breastfed him whilst the tech did the ultrasound and he went off to sleep whilst having the echo.  Couldn't have asked for better.  I think the early start and so much fresh air had worn him out!  The cardiologist was VERY pleased with the results which showed that everything was fine and they don't want to see us for 6 months, woohoo!

Possum sleeping in the buggy after the echo.

After a big couple of days we hit the road for home.  Now we just have to wait to hear from the respiratory paediatrician to find out if Possum did well enough to come off nocturnal oxygen.  I'm cautiously optimistic :)

Warm wishes

Amber