Flash-back Friday - Coming Home From the Hospital On Oxygen

Does anybody like using oxygen at home after your kids have been discharged from the hospital?

I'm can't remember how many times my kids were discharged on oxygen, but it always made me nervous. 

 

Sometimes, hospitals can discharge an asthma patient if they seem to be doing well, but still need a little bit of oxygen. After a 3 day hospital stay, my kids are always happy to get back home in our own beds! 

 

I also worry about picking up infections in the hospital. I don't want my kids coming home from the hospital with any infection they didn't already have!

By the end of the hospitalization, my kids are pretty hyper from the steroid IV. Once they get home, they're still a little crazy. 

 

They want to run around the house, but usually get to the end of the oxygen tubing and are yanked back like a dog who has reached the end of his chain. It's so sad!

Sometimes my kids may need oxygen for a couple of days at home, but if they need oxygen for longer than that, the doctor will order an oxygen "concentrator" instead of using tanks. 

 

Oxygen Concentrators turn room air into oxygen by concentrating it. It can stay in the room as long as you need it so you don't have to worry about needing to replace an oxygen tank. 

 

Your doctor can also order a travel size tank that fits in a bag with a strap. It's handy to sling it over your should and use that oxygen tank when the kids have to go to the doctor for a follow up appointment. 

 

The Pediatrician always wants to follow up with my kids after they have been discharged from the hospital. 

It's amazing the things you can learn over the years (and things you wish you didn't have to know about.) 

 

Here's hoping the kids don't start getting sick again now that school is about to start! I do not want to know how germ infested the classrooms can be.