Pulmonology Appointment

This morning we had a follow-up appointment for Caden with our pulmonologist. When she listened to him, she said it appeared that all his wheezing was coming from his upper airway and not his lungs. I guess that means the steroids and breathing treatments did their job. But from what I could tell, he didn't sound any better, in fact, he almost seemed worse over the weekend. She said from what she could hear today, his trachea was collapsing and causing him to wheeze and cough. That being said, both of the medications he was on won't do any good at this point since they are more geared toward working on the lungs.

This is both good and bad news. It means his lungs have cleared which is great! However, he has tracheomalacia which means his trachea isn't formed correctly and can collapse when he coughs, etc. The Xopenex breathing treatment he was on actually works to soften the muscle in the trachea which is opposite of what we want to do. So, she is discontinuing both the Xopenex and the steroid. And, she is replacing the Xopenex with Atrovent. This is a medication commonly used in pediatric asthma patients (and no, she said he doesn't have asthma). She said it helps to strengthen the trachea and help it be more rigid which is what we need for him. We are to do up to four breathing treatments per day as needed.

She did a trial of the Atrovent in her office to see how he responded to it. When she listened to him afterward, she said he definitely sounded less wheezy. That's a good thing. When I asked her more about what was going on, she thought he did have a viral infection which started all this off. Then, the Xopenex and steroid helped clear up the lungs and what is left is in the upper airway. She said his horrible sleeping and crankiness was probably due to the steroid (yuck!) and now that he's off it, he should start sleeping better again. She said mist might help him, so she thought sitting in the bathroom while running a hot shower might help. The steam could help his airway.

I feel much better about his situation after our appointment today. It's amazing how fast things can change, in either direction. Thank you all for your continued prayers as he works on having a complete recovery.

Having a breathing treatment just before bed

He is so amazing! He handles his treatments so well. Such a sweetheart!