Sadbh’s update – April 29th 2013

Sadbh had a great night and only needed to be suctioned once shortly after Helen’s shift started. She was in a very deep sleep through the night with her heart rate dipping down into the low 70’s occasionally.

She started her day with a massive coughing fit and she found it very hard to breathe. Katie had a tough time clearing her trach and at one stage Sadbh ended up throwing up due to all the coughing.

It took a while but Katie was eventually able to suction a few thick mucus plugs out of her trach and Sadbh started to breathe a little easier. She still had quite a bit of secretions and needed more suctioning, but it seemed that she was over the worst.
As Sadbh was coughing hard she was desperately trying to tell Katie something. Eventually Katie was able to make out what she was saying, "daddy at work". I suppose she was explaining why I was not there to help out.

Sadbh had a fun morning playing with her kitchen and she kept Amy and Larissa entertained.

The weather wasn’t great so it was a good excuse to stay indoors and for Sadbh to get better.

Around 10:30 she asked for a bath and a nap. She was soon fast asleep but as she was coughing so much Larissa and Amy felt that it would be better to forego trach care in case Sadbh woke up.

By noon she was awake as a result of having her trach suctioned but she did not want to get up. She fell back to sleep an hour later and slept until 2 when the suctioning woke her up.

Twenty minutes later she was back to sleep and slept soundly until 4:15.

She was in a great mood all evening playing with her new baby cot that she received from Cormac and Clodagh.

As I was making dinner she came into the kitchen and asked me to build her a car out of cushions and a blanket so we could go visit Nana and Gerdie.

Sadbh received two really cool birthday gifts from her friend Conor O’Brien. She soon had the wrapping paper torn to shreds and was ecstatic with her new sticker book and ink stamps.

Bath time was a lot of fun this evening as Sadbh brought as many of her bath toys in with her. Katie was squirting water down her back with one of the bath fishes and Sadbh turned around with a huge smile and said “that’s nice”. Thankfully she repeated it again so I was able to capture it on video.

Sadbh did not want to go sleep at bedtime so after trying for 45 minutes we decided to mange trach care while she was awake. She was very cooperative and was very calm as I told her a story.

We received word today that our initial attempt to appeal the decision by the insurance company to cancel our nursing coverage was rejected today. Nevertheless we do have another opportunity to appeal this so Katie and I will be busy getting this appeal written up and submitted as soon as possible.

New photos.

Photos from April 29 2011.

Photos from April 29 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.