Hello to all of Ava's followers. Ava continues to cough however last Saturday she got much worse. So out with the Prednisone, Albuterol and Atrovent. These things all seem to help her improve. (She's also on twice daily Symbicort.) Plus maxed out on her reflux medications (Prevacid 60 mg's a day and 15 ml's of Zantac a day.) She's been out of school this entire week. We have been focusing on giving her the treatments, rest and to just get better.
I took her to see her Pulmonologist Dr. Ahrens. (He is about to retire.) It was good to get a "second opinion" per say even if they work in the same office. He is the specialist that Ava was seeing for many years then a few newer doctors came on board. I like them both but thought his many years of advise would help me to feel better about why she has this continued cough. He thinks that from the recent CT scan and the bronchial scope that yes she has narrowing in her left lung opening (which er expected due to her being born with cdh) however he says that seeing her CT and that there is no sign of "not working" lung he thinks that is does work more than we thought it did. When she gets viruses and cold it can get bacteria in it since it is "damaged" thus the asthma and the need for lung medications. He is wondering that in the warmer months if the cough will disappear. Winter is just so full of illnesses that she could be getting a cold on top of a cold and sometimes even in asthma patients the normal steroid/ Albuterol regimen doesn't help "some" colds/viruses... they just have to work themselves through. Her lung function tests didn't show any improvement since last time we were there . I think she picked up a bad cold.
As we were waiting several of Ava's usual nurse practitioners and staff came to say hello. It's so wonderful to know they truly care about Ava. They can't believe how tall she is getting. Ava is one in a million!
I'm going to watch her. We didn't bring any antibiotics on board quite yet but that will be the next step as she has been on Prednisone for 6 days now. She seems to be a lot better today so we will see. Her and I had a good time yesterday. So we welcome all the prayers as she continues to get better. I have faith that God will stop this cough. Thanks for checking in on us. We love all the support!
~Terri
I took her to see her Pulmonologist Dr. Ahrens. (He is about to retire.) It was good to get a "second opinion" per say even if they work in the same office. He is the specialist that Ava was seeing for many years then a few newer doctors came on board. I like them both but thought his many years of advise would help me to feel better about why she has this continued cough. He thinks that from the recent CT scan and the bronchial scope that yes she has narrowing in her left lung opening (which er expected due to her being born with cdh) however he says that seeing her CT and that there is no sign of "not working" lung he thinks that is does work more than we thought it did. When she gets viruses and cold it can get bacteria in it since it is "damaged" thus the asthma and the need for lung medications. He is wondering that in the warmer months if the cough will disappear. Winter is just so full of illnesses that she could be getting a cold on top of a cold and sometimes even in asthma patients the normal steroid/ Albuterol regimen doesn't help "some" colds/viruses... they just have to work themselves through. Her lung function tests didn't show any improvement since last time we were there . I think she picked up a bad cold.
As we were waiting several of Ava's usual nurse practitioners and staff came to say hello. It's so wonderful to know they truly care about Ava. They can't believe how tall she is getting. Ava is one in a million!
I'm going to watch her. We didn't bring any antibiotics on board quite yet but that will be the next step as she has been on Prednisone for 6 days now. She seems to be a lot better today so we will see. Her and I had a good time yesterday. So we welcome all the prayers as she continues to get better. I have faith that God will stop this cough. Thanks for checking in on us. We love all the support!
~Terri
