Happy New Year!

As 2012 draws to a close, I wanted to give you a little update on how Peyton is doing.

The past few weeks have been very difficult for her.  She has been suffering increasingly intense levels of pain with her hip dysplasia.  Her left hip, I can only imagine, is unbearably painful at times.  She is on Neurontin three times a day and Oxycodone for breakthrough pain.  Even with having the dosage of the Neurontin increased within the past week or two, she is still in incredible pain.  Sitting in her wheelchair can be quite painful for her.  When she is laying down, she draws her left leg up towards her body and then across and over to the right.  It's dislocated when it's in that position, yet it seems like that is her position of choice.  There must be some degree of comfort in that position.  However, it makes diaper and clothing changes very difficult.  She has been in her "Rhino brace" {note: if you click on that link, it's the "cruiser" that she is in} far more frequently, including while she is sleeping.  It isn't going to fix her hip dysplasia.  It is meant for hopefully providing some level of comfort for her.  

It is absolutely heartbreaking to see your child in so much pain when you know that you are doing everything you can, but it's not enough.  If only she could tell me what she was going through.  Having a non-verbal child is incredibly challenging as it is, but when the child is sick or in pain, it's worse because they can't tell you exactly what is wrong or what helps or hurts.  I just want to fix this and make her pain go away!

On top of this, for the past few days, Peyton has been having difficulty maintaining her oxygen levels.  She is on a monitor constantly, so we are always aware of what percentage her oxygen level is at.  It should be over 94% but has been in the low 90s and even dipping into the 80s.  To help with that, she has spent the last three or four days on oxygen via nasal canula.  Even at that, she's still having issues.  We have had to bump up the amount of oxygen she gets from about 1.5 liters to 3 liters or so, just to get her where she should be.  We aren't sure why this is happening.  She doesn't appear to be getting sick.

As we wrap up the year, we find ourselves dealing with all of Peyton's ongoing issues as well as increased levels of concern where her pain and oxygenation are concerned.  2012 has been a very difficult year for Peyton.  It feels like the bad has outweighed the good this year, even though I try to maintain a positive outlook as much as I can.  This year has brought some new {and serious} concerns that we will take with us into the coming year.  

If you wouldn't mind offering up some prayers for Peyton, we would greatly appreciate it!

As you know, this blog is under construction, so I am adding posts from CaringBridge here and there - sometimes multiple posts in a day.  Please bear with me if you are receiving email notifications of new posts.  Chances are it is old stuff being added, but I'd hate for you to miss something new, like this post!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  Best wishes to all of you for a Happy New Year!