Pulmonary Lung function test

Hello Ava friends! Hate to say this but... she's been fighting another cold. She had an appointment with the pulmonologist on Friday for her six month Pulmonary lung function test. Even though she had a bad cold, with the Albuteol medicines she scored a "normal range" result. We are just so amazed at what God keeps doing with this little Lady!

I made a little video of her test. The doctor was pleased at how her technique has improved. It takes a little time to be familiar with how to do the test. She improved quite a bit this time. (We practice at home!) The better the technique the better the results.



She is getting so big. She is now 43 pounds and is 4 foot one inches tall. She's growing better than a weed! She always follows their instruction and is smiling. It's wonderful though we haven't been to the University in seven months!

The Children's hospital of Iowa is under construction right now. It's pretty cool to see all the work they are doing.

The doctor is so pleased with how the cold regimen is going. When Ava gets a cold we start her on the Albuterol inhaler. Then if that stops working then we go to the liquid Prednisone. She stays on that until her cough is gone. Generally being on the steroid for about 5 days the cough starts to fade. She also gets pulled from school to focus on getting her lungs clear. They were shocked that she didn't need anymore steroids that what they had prescribed. When they are happy then I am happy!

She did very well with her test. We are so proud of her!

If you could please say a prayer that she can kick this cold. It started on Tuesday. It got worse and by Saturday night we were up pretty much all night with her coughing. Her stats drop to about 92 then she coughs and they go up slightly. Last night she did much better. Her oxygen levels stayed about 95 and she coughed a lot less. The steroids really do the trick. I told the doctor that those steroid for Ava is a Miracle drug. He assures us that less than a week dose doesn't cause immune depression. She's been out of school since Monday.

I went to Ava's school conference on Wednesday. Her teacher is thrilled that Ava is doing so well. The start of the school year we started an IEP for Ava. This simply means she has a "learning disability" and needs a little extra help. Since she's been born it takes her a little longer to learn things than the average child. However her teacher said that Ava is excelling and is a really good reader. She knows all of her sight words for Kindergarten and is moving onto the first grade words. She loves Math and is also doing well in all other areas of school. She does miss many days but she makes up her work at home. A few weeks ago the school took her out of her special help classes (with my permission) as they feel she doesn't need them anymore. This was HUGE to me. That meant that she didn't need that extra boost of help. She was learning with her teacher basically on her own. She was becoming normal". I love and hate that word.

She can't wait until next week for Easter. The excitement is growing. My parents always throw a large egg hunt. Oh the FUN!

As always thanks for checking in on Ava. We love your support, love and prayers. Keep them coming!!

~Terri

Sledding Nightmare

Hello friends. So Ava once again scares the living tar out of me today. We were sledding at my parents house and Ava and the girls were having so much fun with the snow ramp they had built, when Ava hit the bottom of it a little too hard. We heard her scream and start hollering for me. I had been taking their pictures and was at the top of the hill. I ran to her quickly and knew right away she was hurt. I asked her if she could lay back on the sled. She did and continued to tell me her back hurt bad. I called for my parents (who were standing on the hill) to come help us. I didn't want to move her as I'd been in a accident and broke my back about 10 years ago. It is a pain I will never forget. So I was pretty worried about hurting her further. We decided we were going to take her up to the house on the sled. My Dad, Mom and I carried her on the sled. We calmed her as we walked. I had this fear come over me and I began to pray. I tried to stay positive. We took her inside and she continued to say her back hurt. I made the decision to take her to the hospital.

(This was not the time she got hurt but a few minutes before her accident. As you can she they were having so much fun.)

This was right before we took her to the Emergency room.

My Dad and my brother helped me load her up into their vehicle. We placed her in the back still on the sled. It broke my heart and I was afraid of what was ahead of us. Once we got into the hospital everyone rushed to get her into a room. While in the room she started to tell me her foot had fallen asleep. This made me more nervous.

(This was at the hospital. She was still on the sled. Sorry for the picture quality. I was my phone camera.)

The nurse came in and she said the pain in her foot was much worse. She started crying. When Ava cries you know she is hurting badly. I started to massage her leg and foot as I thought maybe it had just fallen asleep. She said that did help a little. The nurse went right out and got the doctor. He immediately ordered xrays and a few minutes later we were headed to the xray room.

They were able to finally get her off the sled. I was extremely nervous but it went well. I felt so bad for her.

 

 

She's very familiar with xrays so she was at ease as the technician explained what she was about to do. She had about 8 xrays taken. They were very careful with her. I asked her how her back was feeling and said it was better. That made me feel a little better. She had to turn on her side for a few of the xrays. She did well with all of that... all the while I was praying.

She was taken back to the room and about 30 minutes later the doctor returned. He said she had no broken bones. He thought she had just sprained it. So hot and cold compresses throughout the day. I was so happy and relieved. He asked her if she thought she could try sitting up. She shook her head yes. He raised the head part of the bed. He said that if she wanted to try and move she could. He wanted to make sure she could sit and walk on her own before he would discharge her.

We let her do things her own speed. She sat on her own after about 5 minutes then wanted to get down to try and walk. She could walk just fine. Wow was I so happy to see her up walking. Prayers answered!!

As we were walking out of the hospital the ladies that signed her in were SO thrilled to see her walking out on her own. That warmed my heart that they cared so much for her.

As we walked into my parent's house my family started clapping and hollering praise for Ava walking. "Thank you Lord" was my Mother's words!

Ava decided she wanted some mac and cheese first. My family was all so happy to see her walking into the house. Her back is still very sore.

I'll leave you with a happy Ava as she enjoyed sledding but won't do this for quite sometime as she's very scared now.

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There is NEVER a dull moment around here!!

If you think of it would you send a few prayers up for Ava. She's such a tough little girl. SO blessed as this could have been MUCH worse.

~Terri