Monday, April 7, 2008

The 3 week all day battle

Maryam must be as tired of being on oxygen as we are for her! For the past 3 weeks she has been pulling on her cannula as if she wants to rip it off of her face! I imagine with the winds and dry air her nose is getting a little irritated by having the extra oxygen, but I'm worried about the skin on her cheeks. We can't stop her from doing it. I'm re-taping her daily now. I use to only have to re-tape her at most every other day, but lately we've had to do it as often as 3 times in one day. We've tried distracting her by giving her a toy or a book when she starting pulling on it, but once she has her mind set on pulling it off we're hard pressed to stop her.
The other day she pulled the cannula off entirely! We were in the car on the way home from PT and by the time we got home, 6 minutes later, she had it completely off. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open for ideas!
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4 comments:

Sarah said...

We use TenderGrips. Emery does the same thing (pulling the cannula) but with the TenderGrips it keeps him from ripping it off. You will need baby oil or adhesive remover to get it off though, and it lasts us about a week at a time.

Jennifer said...

Where do I get TenderGrips? We use Tegaderm and its worked well until recently.

Emily said...

That's the problem we started running into around that age (it does pass though). We had to stop using tape all together because Dakota's cheeks were just too raw and bleeding at times (she has a lot of scarring). What worked well for us was to not use tape at all and wrap it around her ears and then under her chin, pulling the little fastener up tight (be careful not to pinch skin).

Good luck! Is there light at the end of the tunnel for you guys yet with getting off oxygen?

Jennifer said...

Thanks Emily, Brett and I discussed your idea and we're going to try it tomorrow morning after her bath. At the very least if she pulls it off, she won't pull her face off with it! Thanks ladies for the helpful ideas!
As for a light at the end of the tunnel, I think its more of a small candle flicker, but yes, I do see it!