Spring Cleaning

Oh, it's beautiful outside!!  The temps are up to the 30's and 40's this week - which is a big deal in Minnesnowta in February!!  Everyone's getting spring fever and thinking about airing out the house, along with the cleaning to be done!!  Our little CFer is doing a little "spring cleaning" of his own.

I called Vicki again this morning - big surprise for me, right?  Every blog entry I have pretty much starts or ends with "I called Vicki" - lol!  But we love her so much - she's like family, especially for all she's done for us!!  I told her that Sax is sounding a little rattly - very little if any nasal discharge, just a little more rattling in his chest than normal, no fever, appetite is fairly normal (for him). 

She says everything sounds good, if he was bigger, we'd ask him to cough to try to get him to get the stuff up.  She laughed when I said "Saxy cough" and he started coughing on his own (a little game we've been playing to 'teach' him to cough - which is actually really good for him and his condition!!) 

Basically what's going on?  All winter he's been indoor in dry air.  Even with the humidifier running, the air indoors is not as moist in the winter as in the summer.  Spring is actually the best time for CFers because there is SO MUCH moisture in the air.  His nebby is supposed to help him breathe in more moisture, but we only nebby 20 minutes 2-4 times per day.  Now that the snow has been melting, the moisture content of the air is increasing, and he's breathing in more of that moisture, plus he's been running and playing a lot more outside.  The mucus in his lungs has been dry because of the dry air, but now the mucus is starting to absorb the moisture too.  This is causing it to loosen up, which is causing the rattling.  If we get him to intentionally cough, he may be able to knock it loose and get it out!  I asked, "So basically, for him, it's spring cleaning?"  She said she never thought of it that way, but yeah, that's probably the best way to describe it!  The spring air is cleaning him out.

So what's the plan?  Sax is going to get 3 CPT (vest) treatments per day now until he stops rattling.  Vicki doesn't work Thursdays, so if anything changes I'm supposed to call her Friday.  She was also leaving a note with Dr P.  Giving him an extra albuterol treatment is optional - depends on if HE wants it too, or if he seems to need it.  Otherwise, we're back to Rochester next Wednesday for his next checkup.

I'm going to leave you with a few pictures from Friday night - bowling with the kids!!