My adrenaline is pumping and Maggie has fallen asleep.But I just learned something. Octo-mom has nothing on me. I seemed to have eight hands this morning. Maggie just had some problems and I found myself working machines and wielding different tubes in concert to get her the help she needed. I'm not even sure where all the hands were coming from , but it all worked out and Maggie is fine.
It's the first weekday with no summer school. Steve already left for work so it's just Maggie and me here. Maggie is going to a camp with her lovely mother as her aide. We are stalling so I can time things correctly so that I don't need to do some of the procedures while she's at camp.
Just as I finished feeding her she needed suctioning. No problem. Clamp and disconnect the feeding tube and get out the suction catheter. It was fine at first, then it wasn't. In about 30 seconds she was overwhelmed and choking. I had to get the feeding tube reconnected and opened up to relieve some of that pressure but I was holding her up a bit to prevent more choking and working the suction machine feverishly. In retrospect, I should have turned on the oxygen but she was OK without it. If it lasted any longer she wouldn't have been.
If Steve or anyone had been here I would have been yelling for help. But there was no one. I felt this calm come over me and watched myself take care of everything. I cannot even tell you how I did that - it seemed like I had an extra pair of hands. I was holding her up, reconnecting and holding the feeding tube and deep suctioning her all at the same time. It took about a minute of work and I'm not sure I breathed in that time. Crises ended and Maggie was exhausted and almost immediately went back to sleep. I melted in a corner, the calm leaving as quickly as it came.
Now we're off to camp.
It sounds like you need someone there for right after -- to pat you on the back, give you a hug, congratulate you and affirm what an amazing job you are doing daily, by the minute, actually.
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