Brady Update....

Well...after one disappointing appointment with a Pulmonologist here in WV, we asked our pediatrician to refer us to the Children's Hospital where Brady has his surgery.

We drove up to Pittsburgh this morning and my first impressions of the nurse and doctor in the pulmonology department was WONDERFUL.

After all the questions and checks several times here is what we found out.....

The surgeons notes state that they are 99.9% sure that Brady's hernia was congenital and therefore anything that could possibly be wrong from a baby being born with a diaphragmatic hernia they are checking.

It is almost a definite that he has bronchial malaysia (one of his bronchial tubes is 'floppy' or collapses as he breathes)

He has to have an echocardiogram to check for pulmonary hypertension. I don't know too much about this yet, but its not quite like an adult having hypertension, but the 'stress' from his heart could cause lung problems.

With the likelyhood that the hernia was congenital, they are going to do an infant pulmonary functions test to check the airflow through his airways as well as if one of his lungs is working harder than another and try to determine if possibly one of them developed differently.

If the infant PFT doesnt show everything they want, he will have to have a scope done, he will be put to sleep and then they will go through his nose.

In the last 3 weeks he has fallen from the 50 percentile to the 25 percentile so we have to do weight checks weekly.

His nebulizer medication has been changed to a steroid medication to help heal anything (cold etc.) that he could have in there contributing to the trouble he is having.

Monday we have the echocardiogram and his follow up from surgery as well, so I will definitely have more update on Monday.

Right now that is everything I can think of, but thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts along the way. I'll update again soon.