Author Archives: LA

More Doctor Stuff

Well, today we went back to the U of M for Kirra’s cough to see Dr. Laguna. We decided our next steps are to take another chest x-ray, draw blood for a complete blood count, and allergies to mold, milk, and an allergy detective antigen (so if she is allergic to anything this will come back positive) and a Barium Swallow Upper GI x-ray (study).

So, today we did the chest x-ray and the blood draw. The lab tech got her vain, but had to fish around a little bit. She had a helper with a bunch of toys for Kirra to distract her. At one point we turned on this disco ball that light up and spun around on a wand and we shut off all the lights, Kirra probably thought we were on a space ship or something!

The x-ray was really easy to do, and Kirra did great on that! Our Barium swallow is for next Wednesday afternoon.

Dr. Laguna called us back about 2pm and told us the blood work for the Complete Blood Count came back and was just fine. The x-ray didn’t show any illness but did show inflammation in her lower lungs. SO Dr. Laguna did want us to go on Prednisone for 5 days. Its liquid by mouth twice a day. Hopefully it doesn’t turn our angel into a monster or disrupt her too much. Dr. Laguna didn’t think it would since she’s not going to be on it for very long, but did assure us that it does a very good job of getting rid of ANY inflammation in the body. Basically she’ll definitely stop coughing. (if her coughing is a result of inflammation). Which… would kind of point signs towards asthma….

We’ve been giving Kirra lots of Albuterol (ProAir) lately and that seems to be helping her out. Since we’re going on the Prednisone we don’t have to take the Flovent steroid anymore. We are supposed to stay on Prevacid though.

I guess we’ll know more after Wednesday.

More Snow


Well Monday I called the pulminologist back regarding Kirra’s cough, and she put us back on the inhaler. She thinks Kirra still has reflux and possible asthma, and she likely caught an additional cold. All these problems! Generally though Kirra is in fantastic health, and enjoying every minute of life!


The snow is back today, its very pretty to look at and I am glad I got home before the worst of it came. We had subway for dinner tonight, and Kirra had her own mini sub of Turkey, Spinach leaves, tomato, onion and black olives. She loved her whole sandwich very much!

Jason got half the day off, and possibly tomorrow because of the snow storm, but he’s started college classes now to become a certified housing inspector. He’s taking correspondence classes because of his work schedule, but its from a very accredited school Penn Foster.

Fun Weekend

We had a pretty fun weekend! Saturday morning Kirra and I went walking at the mall with a friend, came home, I went grocery shopping while Kirra napped, and then Jason and I watched a little TV. Later in the afternoon, Jason, Theo, Kirra and I went downtown Minneapolis to the Home and Garden show. On the way we got to stop by Jason’s work which was pretty cool to finally see.

Later that evening after Jason and I put Kirra to bed, we watched some Harry Potter.

Today Jason and I watched a bunch of Harry Potter again, cleaned the house, and I had a friend come over. This should be a pretty good week at work as well.

Kirra’s back to coughing again, so I am going to call the pulmonologist to find out what’s up! And what she suggests…

Car Back

Well I got my car back today and its running well. There is a bit of a delay and its possible there might be something up with the cylanoids, but I am supposed to get a “check up” next week. I’m happy to be driving my car again, although it’s really weird because I think i need to shift, or press in the clutch. I’ll get used to an automatic soon enough again!


Kirra has been really talkative lately, and is explaning her vocabulary. She knows where eyes are and gently touches your eyes and saying eyyyeee really quiet. Its so cute. Today we went over to a friends house where they have a little girl about Kirras age as well. They had a bunch of fun together, but we couldn’t stay late because Kirra hadn’t eaten dinner, and Tyler hadn’t gone out to potty yet.

We might go to the home and garden show this weekend, because Jason gets free passes thru work. Then we can dream of ideas for the yard. Kirra’s been coughing again, but we feel like it’s just post nasal drip down her throat at this point. If she’s still coughing by Monday I will call the lung doctor Dr. Laguna back.

Happy March

Well our daycare provider called me yesterday (Sunday) to inform me that she has strep throat and that her son (Kirra’s age) has the chicken pox! So I took today (Monday) off. I met up with me and Kirra’s friends Stefanie and Anna (Kirra’s age) and we went walking at the Northtown mall for about an hour and a half. Well it was time to be getting home, so we took off and went home via Hwy 65. Well right after we passed under the bridge of CR-14 my car went vrrrrooooommmm. And I lost all capabilities for acceleration!!!! What the heck. I threw my car into Tiptronic (manual transmission) and nothing there either. I was stuck in the turning lane right off 65.


Luckily my neighbors were home, so Michael came over and pushed me and Kirra home with his car. What a godsend. Jason came home shortly thereafter so we could figure out what was wrong with my car. We had a toe truck come and bring it up to Frank’s shop in Forest Lake where it was confirmed I will need a new transmission or to get mine rebuilt! Uhhhhhh…..

So, now we’re trying to decide if we should fix the car, or scrap it for parts, and buy a new one. We wanted to buy a new car, however this will be so bittersweet. I love my car. I really really do… but if we spend all this money (which it’s not cheap to fix a trany) then 6 months later something else goes belly up… my car right now has nearly $150,000 miles on it. She’s not dying young by any means. So what a headache to deal with.

On the bright side (if there is one) I called the Lung doctor today, and she says we can stop the inhaler! Kirra will be so happy! We’re to continue the prevacid and soy milk for another month. If she remains cough free we call Dr. Laguna back in a month, and maybe take her off the Prevacid. I’m so happy everything seems to be working out!

I’m off to the dentist tomorrow (oooh fun… not). Hopefully they are nice to me. Its a new dentist. It’s just a teeth cleaning and x-rays, but I’m not a huge fan. Hopefully Tuesday will prove to be better, and hopefully we can get a good deal on a new car, otherwise it looks like we’ll be fixing the Sebring.

Weekend Fun

So far our weekend has been a lot of fun! Last night we had company over for my brother Rick’s birthday. See the photos on the left. It was a Hannah Montana theme because of an inside joke with the family. Rick got a huge kick out of it. We all had super yummy DQ cake and played cards and wii.


Today I met up with my old childhood neighbor Jolene and her daughter Keira (pronounced like Kirra) at Como Zoo. Her mom came with too! Not only was it great to see her, it was also helpful when she opened the doors since we had the girls in strollers. We walked thru the conservatory to warm up (Since we had to park far away because suprisingly it was really busy!) It was so warm in there and Kirra absolutely loved looking at all of the flowers and plants, and especially loved seeing the coi fish in the little ponds. Just as I was about to snap a photo the batteries died, so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from our outing today. I’m sure we will make a few trips back to the zoo this year! After the conservatory we went into the Tropical section which is also indoors. They have HUGE tanks with BIG fish in them. Kirra loved seeing the big fishies, and especially loved seeing the sloth (out of a cage) move around. Apparently the sloth never moves but she got out of whack because they are nocturnal, and this was about 1pm. The zookeeper said that was the most she’s moved in a while.

Once we got home Kirra and I enjoyed Grilled Cheese Sammies and both of us, no… all 3 of us took a nap. I’m sure Tyler and Kitty took a nap too. Jason made us yummy pork chops for dinner!

Tomorrow I am meeting up with my old High School best bud for coffee. I’m pretty excited to catch up with her. We lost contact when I joined the Navy so I am sure a ton has happened in the past 8.5 years! That’s a long time!

I’m so glad tomorrow is Sunday! We’ll watch a few TV shows, and Kirra’s new favorite TV show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves that show!

Toodles.

It’s been nearly two weeks and my little bunny Kirra has been cough free! I called our pediatrician to let her know that she stopped coughing and she thought maybe we could try to eliminate some things to see if we could figure it out. Jason and I talked it over and the Pulmonologist wants us to talk to her before we stop anything. So we’re going to wait until next week and call her up.

We got our new bed on Wednesday and at first I was not very impressed. Its about as hard as a rock when you first sit on it, but then you melt in. It’s a lot different than a traditional mattress and Jason and I both read up that it does take a little while to get used to it. By the second night now I am liking it more. It’s very comfortable, especially while laying on your back, and well, everything really.

I also got my new car stereo put in my car which was just in time for the big snow storm. It has an auxiliary hole to plug your iPod into. Yay, no more radio, which I had been listening to for nearly a year now!

I’ve been thinking about Grandpa lately, and that makes me kind of sad. I really can’t believe he’s been gone for almost a year now. I have a picture of him when he was in the army in black and white on my dash board (near my odometer) tucked in.

On a lighter note, this weekend should be fun, tomorrow night my side of the family is coming over for my brother’s birthday. We’re going to play games and have DQ cake, which I ordered special. Saturday I am going to the zoo with a friend and her daughter Keira (sounds the same as Kirra). So we’ll have the too Kirra’s. Sunday I am meeting up with my High School BFF at Caribou coffee. Should be a fun weekend. Most exciting, I don’t have to work anywhere in the morning, so I plan to sleep in!!!!

5 Days… Dare I say?

Dare I even say that Kirra has been coughing attack free for 5 days now. Its so nice to not be rushing into her room wondering how to help her. Not that I wouldn’t ,but it scares the crap out of me, and I’m sure she is glad not to be coughing her buns off.


I’m thinking it was reflux… i’m not sure, but i’m thinking….. The flovent inhaler decreases inflamation, which if stomach acids were aspirated into her lungs that would cause inflamation. The prevacid changes the pH of the acid, and inhibits the tummy from producing too much acid so there isn’t a whole lot of acid to reflux… and the soy milk is easier to digest and virtually no saturated fat so it doesn’t upset the tummy!

She was also on Augmentin for an ear infection, so I guess it’s possible she had bacterial bronchitis, and that treated it… I’m thinking it was the reflux thing, because she didn’t seem sick otherwise.

Jason and I are doing good. We’re supposed to get our new Tempurpedic bed on Monday or Tuesday. I’m so excited! I can’t wait. It’s also going to be a King Size bed. So much room, I won’t know what do do with all the space!

Yesterday (Friday) Kirra and I went to Foss swim school for Family Swim Night. The water is 92 degrees and Kirra had the time of her life. She absolutely loved it. She usually turns blue in the pool and has no fun, but she was swiming around (obviousy in my arms.) but by the end she wasn’t clinging to me for dear life anymore. (which did feel kind of good).
Later on I drove to my sisters house in White Bear in a total snow storm! YUCK. On the way home I could barely see the road. I was so happy to get home. It was by far the worst driving conditions I’ve ever experienced… well it was a tie with the snow storm of February 2007, however this time I had to drive much further. Tomorrow (Sunday) we’re just relaxing, I am supposed to run 5-6 miles.

Day 2


No coughing attacks! Keep your prayers coming!

 
So on a side note… Tyler has been really stinky lately… like very very stinky… Today once I got home I let Tyler out, we hung out for a bit, and then he started scratching a bunch on his neck… so I thought, oh no not fleas again!!! He has been doing this weird bitting thing too where there are invisible bugs flying thru the air… so I went to take his collar off to see and my hand got goo on it, and was sticky. I smelled my hand and sure enough it was the reeky smell we had been smelling for a few days.
 
I immediately washed my hands and put Kirra in her crib so I could inspect Tyler (Kirra didn’t think it was nice of me to banish her to the crib and make her miss out). I put my yellow rubber gloves on and took a look and to my disgust his neck had like open sores or something oozing on his neck. I called Jason and told him to meet us at Banfield.
 
Tyler had to get his neck shaved so the Vet could see. He has a huge yeast infection on his neck, and also an ear infection! Poor Tyler. I guess this neck rash also called a hot spot is very painful and itchy. I feel so bad for Tyler.
 
Already since they shaved him he smells a lot better. I bet his fur was getting icky too. We threw his collar away at the vet, so we will have to get him a new one. We didn’t even want to bother cleaning his old one since it stunk so much. Tyler isn’t supposed to have a collar on for at least a week.
 
Here’s to health at our house.

Could it actually be possible?

Kirra hasn’t coughed much lately! Could this actually be possible? It’s hard to tell what is possibly helping it… Steroid Inhailer… Prevacid… Augmentin for an ear infection… or soy milk… Perhaps well keep on, keeping on, and see if she continues this lack of coughing!!! . If she does stop coughing…which to me, i’m going to start counting days now… I might be a bit hesitant to take her off the soy milk since she likes it so much… (and then Jason and I can drink 2% again!).


We’ll see. If she does go an entire week without coughing I will ask the pediatrician what she thinks. We’re supposed to call the pulmonologist on March 5th, hopefully we can go until then w/o coughing!!!!