yep were in the age of technology, sometimes its wonderful, faster computers, smarter phones, phones with no landline, ability to bank, pay bills and make purchases all online. but the kind of technology im talking about tonight is medical technology. yes its great, its lifesaving, every step that is made is a step that could potentially save hundreds of lives. im all for it! without the vent we wouldnt have zach here, without the technology to feed zach thru the gtube, he would have starved, these are all good things.
question for you though, when you tuck your kids in bed and check in on them how do you know they are sleeping well...really in hard sleep? maybe they are drooling, or snoring? maybe your kiddo sweats while they sleep? for zach when i check on him thru the night, my number 1 factor in seeing if he is sleeping hard...his heart rate. and how do i check that? a piece of technology we use for zach to monitor his heartrate and his oxygen saturation level, most of you will be familiar with this when you take your kid to the doctor for a check up and they put the little lazer probe on their finger for about a minute and then take it off....
well in zachs case, anytime he is sleeping it is on the entire duration, during waking moments he has it spot checked, a few times a day. we rely heavily on these numbers, if his "awake" heartrate is higher than 130 its a sign he may be in discomfort, if his Sat is lower than 96 we immediatly check to see if his oxygen is in his nose or if he has removed it. during the night when he is asleep Zach's heart rate can go as low as 70 that ive seen, and this is thought to be "good" since it is much less work on his heart. if its hanging out in the low 100's thats a sign to us that he may be working on getting sick. its crazy to me that we rely so heavily on these lil numbers. that these numbers play such a crutial part in Zach's care, and moreso that without this technology we may not be able to catch things soon enough.
technology is good, but sometimes i hate relying on it....
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