Tuesday, July 26, 2005

The Air Doctor

Well, I'm back and recovered from my Pulmonologist appointment. I say "recovered" because I had to do about 30 minutes of breathing tests and treatments. That about killed my back and chest, having to exhale as far as I could with a nurse *coaching* me..."push, push, push!" LOL I was wheezing and coughing and she was saying "PUSH!" I wanted to push HER. :) Anyway, good news..... The doctor said that I do not have asthma. Thank you, God. He thinks it is R.A.D. (Reactive Airway Disease) It is similar to asthma, but not the same thing. One thing he asked me was if I was having heartburn or acid reflux lately. I have been, but I thought it was due to the medication. He said that he prescribes a lot of acid-reflux medication to his asthma patients but it's hard to tell which comes first...the asthma or the acid-reflux. The acid-reflux can make the asthma worse, but the coughing from the asthma can irritate and constrict the stomach, making the reflux worse. So, I'm being put an a prescription of Pepcid. Also a low dose of steroids, continuing the Advair 500 mcg inhaler, and doing the breathing treatments at home with my nebulizer. My O2 level was 88-92% at the doctor's office. Not great. My blood pressure was 90/68...always nice and low. So I'm going to just take it easy, take my meds, and pray this goes away soon. I have a follow-up appointment on Monday, August 1st. Thank you ALL for your prayers and emails! :)

And some of you are thinking...."WHAT A BORING BLOG!" haha :) Well, I did post one of my Wendi Speciale August kit layouts today...so here it is! When I saw the "Value Beyond Measure" stamp in my kit, I immediately thought of the way my parents raised us. (I love you, Mom!)

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary...9 years! I love you, David, and am so glad you asked my Dad if you could marry me :) He loved you for that!

- Jennifer

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! this doctor sounds like he knows what he is doing. I like that they spent so much time with the breathing tests (sorry that they were killer tests). Loved your page, pea praise is forthcoming. And, finally - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you and David. I know you are more in love now than you were 9 years ago, and I find that very touching. Enjoy your special day.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're doing better! Happy Anniversary to you and David!

Off to check out your page, which I'm sure is gorgeous as always! :)

Heather said...

Love the page!

Happy Anniversary. . .we're travelling tomorrow (I'll get to see Terri . . .yippee!), so I'm sure I won't get to say that tomorrow.

As far as the RAD, that's what Alaina (my youngest) has and she usually has 1-2 episodes in the summer. . don't know what it is about the summer. But as long as we give her a breathing treatment as soon as we start to hear the rattling, it doesn't take more than a day or 2 of treatments. Hopefully, after this initial seriers of episodes that has been so hard for you to get over, that will be the same for you. Did us a world of good once we got a nubulizer at home fulltime.