Graduation Day

Payton spent 6 weeks on a ventilator. She had pneumonia once wile still in the NICU, and 2 staph infections. She came home from the NICU on oxygen for 6 months. She was hospitalized for 5 days with bronchiolitis when she was 1 and came home on oxygen for another month. She was hospitalized another time with RSV. She's had pneumonia 6 more times since she came home from the hospital. I've lost track of the number of times she's been to the ER with respiratory problems. She had 2 winters of getting monthly Synagis shots hoping to keep RSV away. We spent 3 winters in lockdown at doctors recommendation.

Tuesday morning she had a follow-up with pulmonology. When the doctor asked if I had any concerns...I couldn't think of any. When Dr. Toni asked how the winter was...I didn't have anything to say. We'd gone all winter without any major illnesses, she's hasn't been to the ER, been on antibiotics or steroids. Payton had a wonderful winter.

Dr. Toni looked at me, teared up, and said she's graduated. We can call or go back if we need to, but otherwise, she's discharged. There were big hugs, a few tears and high-fives all around.

4 years and all that history later...she graduated.

P.S. - She weighed in at 41.5 pounds for her appointment. Exactly 40 pounds heavier than her smallest ever weight. :) Unbelievable.

Appointment after appointment....

Last week was totally booked with appointments and this momma is still in recovery mode. Since we were approaching their "due date", everyone wanted to get their hands on them and check them out.
Here's the scoop...

Monday, Parker ended up at the pedicatrician. I was so worried about Payton not sounding good that it was a little strange to wake up to Parker sounding awful. It didn't take too long for the doc to call it - croup. With aggrivated BPD, reactive airway, and stridor. It sounded a little like he was always sucking air through a straw. So onto a weeks worth of oral steroids and ramp up the breathing treatments.

Tuesday was Early Intervention. We had out PT, OT, speech, and developmental therapists, case worker and a student all come to the house for our review. They have met every goal that's been put for them so at thsi time, PT, OT and developmental have discharged us. If in the future we need them, we can call and they can come do a new evaluation. Speech has also discharged Payton, but will continue to see Parker for an expressive speech delay.

Wednesday was Payton's turn at pulmonology. She sounded so awful on Tuesday night that if she had had a fever, I would have taken her to the E.R. But we held out at home since we were first up Wednesday morning. The pulmonologist says that she's normal for her - just crappy lungs. The P.A. thought she sounded ok when we were there. If she had souded bad while we were there, we'd of been sent downstairs for xrays. They gave us a script for oral steroids in case she started to go downhill, hoping that would be enough to keep her out of the E.R. They also gave us the inhaler form of one of her breathing treatments. We can use it with her special spacer to take the medicine if we're out and about and she starts to sound a little rough. Next visit will be in 6 months.

Thursday was the NICU follow-up clinic. Luckily Chris came with me to this one because they split them into two rooms to see what they could do without watching each other. When they brought them back together and asked them to do a few things, they were completely over being there. The doc made everyone leave the room and would poke his head in to tell us what to get them to do, then the group of them watched through the two-way mirror at the end of the room. They gave us referrals to a few new places to address some issues, but said that overall things look good and we were being discharged from there as well.

That's the latest from here. They're both holding their own and both just have a cold that hasn't evolved into anything else (fingers crossed!). This week is pretty quiet on the doctor front (fingers crossed again!) except for finally seeing the allergist for Parker.

By the end of it all - with a 2 hour drive home Wednesday nigth from the ice - with work, laundry, groceries, and life, I need a vacation to recover :)

And I promise coming soon....some special events coming up!

Back to Pulmonology

Last week we had another check-in with pulmonology. She loves the bright color balls that line the sidewalk outside the specialty clinic entrance.

We had seen the actual doctor a week before after her latest ER trip. This was a regularly scheduled appointment with the physicians assistant. She is proud of her growth since we saw her in May. We discussed how Payton's had a rough summer (3 rounds of pneumonia). They said she's outgrown her steroid breathing treatment, Pulmicort, which she's had at least once a day (if not twice) for over a year. We've now moved on to an inhaler with a new medicine. We also talked about this winter. Scary time. They're both active toddlers and want to do stuff. I don't want them around mobs of people who don't wash their hands, touch stuff, sneeze and cough all over. I don't want her to crash and burn. Or her to take me with her. Our goal is no hospital admissions this winter. The doctor and the PA both told me to trust my gut and be vigilant this winter. Here's keeping our fingers crossed.


P.S. Get ready for lots of updates. We've still got to tell you about our first field trip, our birthday, and our trip to the pumpkin patch this week!