Clinic Appointment Update

On Wednesday Ethan, my mother in law and I headed off to Roseville for our quarterly clinic appointment. I was so thankful to have help during our 2 hour appointment. Ethan was so squirmy during his Synagis appointment the day earlier that I couldn't even imagine how it would have gone if I hadn't had someone else there to hand him off to.

Ethan weighed in at 21 lbs 7 oz and is 28 inches long. His length to weight ratio is a little off because he's considered short for his weight. For a CF kid he is beyond what the doctors would expect and more. They have joked that maybe he's not pancreatic insufficient, which we know from testing that he is.

We met with his pulmonologist, Dr. Perez. Since Ethan had a wet cough last Friday we were doing some nebulizer treatments. We had him doing Albuterol and Hypertonic Saline. Both of those combined takes 40 minutes. After nebulizers we start his VEST treatment for 15 minutes. We did that three times a day.

Thankfully, our doctor stopped the Albuterol and Hypertonic Saline because Ethan's lungs were clear. They have decided to start Pulmozyme as a preventative nebulizer because he has already been sick twice this winter. We are all striving for a hospital free winter. The Pulmozyme only takes 15 minutes once a day and we'll continue his VEST for 15 minutes twice a day.

Ethan finally is big enough for an actual vest. We have had him in a wrap for the last 8 months. We are grateful for the new vest because he was starting to rip the velcro off the wrap during treatments. Here is the photo of his new vest:

We also were given a puffer for the Albuterol which will cut the time from 15 minutes to 3 minutes. I'll take pictures of that when we need it. For now, it will only be used if he is sick.

We are very thankful that his last sickness only lasted 4 or 5 days. He is back to normal now, being his happy self again.