Friday, Addie and I went back to the Pulmonologist for a follow up. It was actually scheduled before her bronch, so the timing worked out in that we would be able to touch base with the doctor face to face instead of over the phone. Plus, we got a girls day out of it! Addie was a bit terrified of going to the doctor's again (after Monday, I would be too), so we did a lot of talking about what the appointment would probably be. He was wonderful with her. Very relaxed, and in fact Addie chatted up a storm with him. At one point, Dr.G looked at her and chuckled and asked if this was normal for her because she doesn't usually ever talk with him. I said yes, she normally talks a lot!
As of Friday's appointment, Addie's cultures are growing Haemophilus Influenza. He said this could be part of the reason for her ongoing cough. There are still cultures and "tests" that aren't finished, but as of now this is what we know. He put her on a strong antibiotic (thank goodness she can swallow pills!!) for Haemophilus Influenza Bronchitis and also wants us to be "liberal with the use of the albuterol" as her chronic cough is "confounding the clinical picture." He ordered the pancreatic elastase test and said that she will have to have the sweat test repeated in the ongoing future. In his notes, he said she fits the picture for "CFTR related disease without confirmed diagnosis of atypical CF." I was relieved that her appointment didn't involve any "tests." She needed that. We are still waiting to hear back from GI on her studies there.
With her appointment out of the way, we took off to the Mall...because what else is a girl going to do? I needed to visit the Origins store, so Addie got a mini-facial while we were there. It definitely made restocking much easier. Plus, she had a nice time being pampered and relaxing! We ran a few more errands there, Addie tried on the Mad-hatter hat and had fun with that, and then headed out to get our toes done. That was my break!
After toes, we stopped for a fro-yo snack and then hit the road. Addison slept the whole way home. My kids don't sleep in the car, ever. So I know she isn't feeling great. While we were driving Dave called to say that her antibiotic wouldn't be ready until Monday afternoon (which for a lot of reasons wasn't ok, but one is because we are leaving Monday for vacation). I called the pharmacy and had to get a little cranky with them. They finally said they could call the other pharmacies in town to see if anyone else had the med in stock. Wouldn't you know it, one of them did. So when I called back to see what they were able to figure out, they had transferred the med to the other pharmacy and we were back on track. Addie and I picked it up on our way into town 15 minutes before the pharmacy closed.
She has been using the albuterol about 3 times a day. It does seem to be helping I think. I'm still "new" to this world of cough. We plan to do the pancreatic elastase test when we get back from vacation, and hopefully will hear back from both doctors over the next week regarding the rest of her results.
Update: We heard back from the GI while we were on vacation. All her biopsies came back normal, which as our doctor said, is a good thing. So we know for sure she's not dealing with celiacs or anything else in that area. We are still working on that pancreatic elastase test. It's a timing thing.
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