While in the hospital, I found that Wesley was having a really hard time breathing at times, and he sounded like he was snoring, though he wasn't really congested or anything like that. I hadn't noticed it before, but I don't normally share a bed with him (not since coming home from UA anyway...).
Respiratory Therapy came in to check his airways, etc, and with a gentle 'adjustment' of his chin, he no longer snored or seemed to be struggling to breathe (his trachea area was 'pulling' when he was breathing, showing distress-like symptoms).
I am definitely not well informed about OSA, and was hoping some of you may be :). It was recommended that we get a referral to ENT and have a sleep study done for him because he may need a cpap or bipap. I know what they are, I know that they are to treat OSA, but what I am more curious about is whether this could be ONLY a result of the surgery (recent intubation and heavy pain meds causing 'extra' relaxation).
The last few nights he's woken up many times during the night, yet doesn't appear to be in pain during the day for the most part. We have still given one or two doses of pain meds in the daytime (could be up to every 4 hours... but only 1 over 12 hours yesterday) but at night we've given it twice, and he's not even moving around, etc... he just wakes up in an inconsolable cry. Since he can't communicate, we go ahead and give him the pain meds *in case* that's what's bothering him. Within 20 minutes he usually calms down, but last night he was awake almost all night (even with pain meds) and fussing every 5-10 minutes until 4:30am when I finally just put him on my chest on the couch and he slept until 6am. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep even during that time, so well, because there was a boy in a heavy cast leaving indentations on my arm, chest, and leg from laying on top of me LOL.
And so, the question is... could he be waking from OSA? Could he have always snored an dus just not notice it? Could it be positioning since he used to sleep curled up on his side and now he is more on his back? He DOES sleep on his side some but always moves back to his back during the night, even with propping right now. Could it be just from surgery? Should we go ahead and seek an ENT referral and go through a sleep study or is there "something else" we should be looking at before putting him through that? Though I know it's painless, it's "just one more thing" for him, since he has an EEG (rescheduled from TODAY since he's still on pain meds) and sedated MRI coming up already and just had surgery...
Thoughts? I WANT him to breathe well! I just don't want to jump the gun and put him through a lot if this could all be circumstantial. I will, of course, talk to the pediatrician about this all and probably mention it to our ENT next time I'm in even if we don't go that route... but thought I'd ask the "experts" too (YOU!). Thanks!
Respiratory Therapy came in to check his airways, etc, and with a gentle 'adjustment' of his chin, he no longer snored or seemed to be struggling to breathe (his trachea area was 'pulling' when he was breathing, showing distress-like symptoms).
I am definitely not well informed about OSA, and was hoping some of you may be :). It was recommended that we get a referral to ENT and have a sleep study done for him because he may need a cpap or bipap. I know what they are, I know that they are to treat OSA, but what I am more curious about is whether this could be ONLY a result of the surgery (recent intubation and heavy pain meds causing 'extra' relaxation).
The last few nights he's woken up many times during the night, yet doesn't appear to be in pain during the day for the most part. We have still given one or two doses of pain meds in the daytime (could be up to every 4 hours... but only 1 over 12 hours yesterday) but at night we've given it twice, and he's not even moving around, etc... he just wakes up in an inconsolable cry. Since he can't communicate, we go ahead and give him the pain meds *in case* that's what's bothering him. Within 20 minutes he usually calms down, but last night he was awake almost all night (even with pain meds) and fussing every 5-10 minutes until 4:30am when I finally just put him on my chest on the couch and he slept until 6am. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep even during that time, so well, because there was a boy in a heavy cast leaving indentations on my arm, chest, and leg from laying on top of me LOL.
And so, the question is... could he be waking from OSA? Could he have always snored an dus just not notice it? Could it be positioning since he used to sleep curled up on his side and now he is more on his back? He DOES sleep on his side some but always moves back to his back during the night, even with propping right now. Could it be just from surgery? Should we go ahead and seek an ENT referral and go through a sleep study or is there "something else" we should be looking at before putting him through that? Though I know it's painless, it's "just one more thing" for him, since he has an EEG (rescheduled from TODAY since he's still on pain meds) and sedated MRI coming up already and just had surgery...
Thoughts? I WANT him to breathe well! I just don't want to jump the gun and put him through a lot if this could all be circumstantial. I will, of course, talk to the pediatrician about this all and probably mention it to our ENT next time I'm in even if we don't go that route... but thought I'd ask the "experts" too (YOU!). Thanks!