March 1, 2010

In the last update (2/24/10) we sent about Gabrielle we mentioned that after day nine of her second round of Augmentin the doctors were still concerned about her cough. Well today was her last dose of Augmentin and the sound of her cough has not improve and other things started over this past weekend such as spitting up mucus, gagging on solid foods and her enzymes, runny nose, and her breathing occasionally sounding like a purring kitten. As we were instructed to do by the doctors, we called the CF Clinic this morning. And as expected we made our fourth visit to the clinic in less than a month.

Since Gabrielle has been on two 14-day rounds of Augmentin since the first of the year and since she has been unable to get rid of her cough and other things, she has been admitted to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for the second time in 4 months for IV antibiotics. Her cough and other symptoms are such that if she did not have CF nothing would typically be done about them. However, since she does have CF we need to take the extra precautions and give her stronger antibiotics that target specific bacteria that are bad to CF patients. While in the hospital we will also be ensuring her reflux is under control and is not contributing to her cough and spit ups. We will also be talking with the dietitian and doctors about how to get Gabrielle to eat solid foods. Our goal is that at the end of this hospital visit is that we will be back on track and ready to go for at least another year without having to return to the hospital.

Today after the CF Clinic visit we were given a room and admitted to the hospital. After that Gabrielle received a standard IV so she could start her antibiotics tonight and then she had chest x-rays taken. She has already had one of her antibiotics and is getting ready to have her second one in a few minutes. She has also already had one round of respiratory therapy. Tomorrow at 1pm she will be sedated so she can have a PICC Line inserted for the remainder of the IV antibiotics.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Jeff, Ashley, and Gabrielle