Keeping Healthy

At Katie's last CF clinic, it was decided that she would be on antibiotics for the entire winter season. A small daily dose. The hope was that this would keep the bacteria at bay and prevent the pneumonia she was suddenly frequently getting. I was also given a prescription of oral steroids to have on hand. When we hear the barking cough, we immediately begin steroids. We have had to do this several times, but each time it has worked! By the second day, the cough was much better and we were able to avoid pneumonia.

Sunday morning, Katie woke up with that horrible barking cough. Immediately she began breathing treatments every 4 hours and oral steroids twice a day. Today is day 2. Historically, the cough is much better by the second day. This morning it was not :( She will continue the treatment plan she is currently on. Praying that she is better in just a couple of days.

As parents, we all do our best to keep our children safe, protected, and healthy. Chronic illness makes that so difficult. Katie is sick at least once a month. Usually it is only minor, not worth mentioning now that we have a great treatment plan. But, every now and then it gets the best of her. The severe allergies aggravate the severe asthma. The CFTR-related metabollic syndrome amplifies it all. And we end up with a round of new meds. Getting back to healthy as quick as we can.

It has been almost a year since Katie was admitted to the hospital. At that time, we had no idea what was going on in her poor little body. Today, we know. Today, we do what we can to keep her healthy. It takes a village and a ridiculous amount of meds. We are usually successful.

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A month ago, our family had a round of martial arts belt tests. Katie tested for her purple belt and received it. I tested for my gold belt and received it. Andy tested for his blue belt/black stripe. Andy's test began at 1pm. At 1:30, he was sparring and blocked a kick that came in a little too hard. He was down on the mats. His cry was one of pain. His arm hurt, it was swollen. Andy was given the option to bow out of his test. He wanted his belt badly. He chose to tough it out. He was given some pain meds and an ice pack. Then back to the test he went, another two hours. Andy got his belt!!!

We went home that afternoon, wrapped his hand up and kept ice on it all afternoon. It hurt. The next day, we went to see the Orthopedic surgeon. Andy's arm was fractured. He did 2 hours of his belt test (including grappling) with a fractured arm!!!! He was super excited to get a cast on. That was 4 weeks ago. Now, he can't wait until he gets it off.
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