Saturday, January 3, 2009

Dinner is Served

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing more about my nursing duties. Pictured at right, you can see Tyler's TPN. This is the supplement we use for Tyler's nutrition, as he isn't eating full meals yet. He gets an IV each night for a 12 hour period. The blue and gray pump on the left side of the bag controls the speed at which the liquid is infused. Thankfully he sleeps most of that time, and is only partially bothered by a permanent attachment. The IV is contained in a backpack and he just needs to remember to take it with him for any nighttime wanderings.

To prepare the TPN, I take the bag of stuff and add 3 vials of vitamins to it. I've even got my own "sharps" disposal, as I go through 3 needles per night. It's a very serious business, but I've gotten fairly quick at mixing stuff up. I just have to remember to pull Tyler's TPN bag out of the fridge at dinner each night, so that he doesn't have to suffer through liquid ice cream at night. He gets plenty chilled when moving to a new room these days, so I shouldn't add to the freezing.

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