Dottie girl has been freed from her cannula! Her poor nose was being irritated by the cannula rubbing against it, so her doctor found a creative and old-school solution that doesn’t require her to wear anything on her face and will allow her nose to heal. It’s call an Oxihood or oxygen tent, and when she’s in it we’re lovingly calling her “bubble girl”. Apparently this method of oxygen support hasn’t been used in years, so many of the medical team had never heard of it or seen it in use. Our special girl has drawn some extra visitors as a result. They made this change late yesterday and we thought that she was going to need all of her care and bottle feeds while laying inside the tent, essentially preventing us from being able to hold her for a while. But God…

Mike and I went to the hospital today for Dottie’s noon care and bottle. When we got there her nurse told us that the doctor didn’t want the tent to be a barrier for us, and that he wanted us to still feel like we could hold Dottie and love on her. Bless him. He had approved her care and bottle feeds to be done outside of the tent with close monitoring of her oxygen sats. Dottie girl spent over 1.5 hours outside of the tent for her bottle and a bath, breathing room air only, and never once had an issue maintaining her oxygen saturation! Because of that she is now able to be out of the tent whenever she is awake, and will only need the extra support while she is sleeping. We’re hoping to have a sleep study completed soon so that maybe she won’t require any additional oxygen support at all. 

Dottie is continuing to do well with her bottle feeds and is getting more and more consistent with the amount that she is finishing. Our girl is making so many strides forward and is amazing everyone with the progress she is making. 

Merciful miracles. God winks. God is gracious.