OK, the image below has NOTHING to do with our Clinic appointment today. But, it’s waaaaay too cute not to post. Alright, now that I’ve got that out of my system, I’d like to journal our exciting Clinic experience we had today. For those of you new to the blog, Adalyn “goes to Clinic” once a quarter. It’s 3-6 hours of Mommy, Daddy, and Addy all sitting in a room at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta while their entire Cystic Fibrosis Team come in one-by-one and examine our little girl. We see a Social Worker, a Nutritionist, a Tech to take weight and measurements, a Pulmonologist, Pharmacist, Repratory Therapist, Gastroenterologist, and a Nurse that processes throat cultures and administers labs. We’ve seen these kind folks once a quarter since Adalyn was born and we’ll continue seeing them until she’s an adult. As you can imagine, these people are like extended family to us. They laugh with us, they cry with us, and they just can’t get enough of Adalyn. Today was an especially interesting visit. Addy’s GI doctor noticed that she is on the lowest possible dose of Creon, an enzyme supplement she takes with every meal that helps her body process fat. Usually by the time infants begin eating some solid foods the dosage needs to be increased. A healthy individual’s pancreas secretes these enzymes naturally. However, with CF patients, their pancreas can often get clogged with sticky mucus blocking the enzymes from being deposited into the digestive system. A good indication as to whether or not the enzyme is working is by counting how many times Adalyn “goes number 2” a day. An average of twice a day is what we’re shooting for. Interestingly, Adalyn seems to be thriving on her current miniscule dosage. The Gastroenterologist has even ordered us a stool examination to see if we can quit enzymes all together! This is SUCH a big deal to us. While it’s become our norm to break open these pills and pour them out on some applesauce for Addy to eat before EVERY meal, being able to cut this routine out of our lives would save us so much time and hassle. Especially when we’re out on the road or on vacation. Quitting enzymes would also mean we would get to quit the Prilosec she takes twice a day as well. Prilosec, in Addy’s case, simply helps the enzymes do their job better. That would only leave us with the twice a day Chest Physical Therapy and fat soluble vitamins to administer. I don’t know what we would do with all that extra time we would save. Probably just take more pictures. 🙂
