Hospital

Ricky started up with coughing, wheezing and chest tightness last Thursday. The pediatrician saw him and put him on Biaxin and the CF doc upped the strength of his Advair inhaler. By Monday he was not better so I had him seen again when Misty was having her well baby visit. His lungs sounded crackly still and generally not well. Pedi got ahold of the CF doc and we were told to come Tuesday. So we saw the CF doc on Tuesday. Still crackly, lung function down 20%, and x-ray show partial atelectasis (collapsed lung) and minor infiltrates, both in the left lung. She said he needed to go into the hospital… But there were no beds available. So we were sent home with an rx for Levaquin and orders to start doing thAIRapy vest again (we’ve been doing the hand-held Acapella) and up the hypertonic saline treatments to 3x per day.

I heard “no news” from the CF nurse a couple of times Wednesday and then finally got a call around 3 in the afternoon… They had a bed. Not in the usual CF unit but they’ll move him over when there’s a bed there. So Ricky is in and doing fine. Misty and I left him once his IV was in. He’s been out for a year and a half. Guess it’s just time. Please keep Ricky in your thoughts, with wishes for a speedy recovery!

I just realized that it has been a long time since I updated on Ricky. He came home right after I sent the last update (late July) and has been doing great since then. His bipolar disorder is stable now, and what’s more, so is his cystic fibrosis. He has now not been in the hospital for the CF since April of 2006. One thing that has worried the doctors is that Ricky has not grown taller or significantly heavier in over two years. So he was recently evaluated by an endocrinologist for CF-related diabetes (which is similar to both of the standard kinds of diabetes, but also unique in and of itself). We are monitoring his glucose randomly, and so far he does show signs of gradually becoming insulin resistant. Back at the end of last school year, when he was going through all of the psychiatric problems, Ricky was removed from the special education school program he was in, because he actually attacked some staff while in a rage. Over the summer, he attended a non-public school program where he himself was attacked by bigger, meaner kids. I got him withdrawn from that program and ever since then, the school district has been trying to find an appropriate program. We have toured two schools, and liked the second one, which has a clinical and therapeutic component, and a great reputation. I recently got word that the district is going to try to get Ricky into the second program.

Andrew and Misty are both fine. Dave recently got word of a new promotion he is getting to a higher managerial position. I am a stay at home mom, but in July I transferred (from my old customer service job) to a position as a temp library clerk, working occasional shifts. I really like the flexible hours.

Guess that’s it from us for now! Thank you to everyone for the continued cards and letters. It has meant a lot to Ricky, especially with all of the trouble he’s been having this year.