As you all know, I do try to keep this blog by and large about the little citrus folks, but every once in a while we larger people can intrude on the narrative. And, I feel like if there were ever a week that such an intrusion would be justified, it would be this week, where I can share the great news that Papa Bear is now officially a tenured professor! He worked incredibly hard for this and it was well-deserved (and a surprise to no one) but nonetheless a tremendous accomplishment and we are all very proud of him.
Of course, on the morning of the tenure announcement, where were Lemon and I? At Children's hospital, of course. Where else would we be, really? We had our annual follow-up with GI. As always, more questions than answers, but here is what we know. Lemon's liver ultrasound has findings that, in an adult, would be consistent with "mild fibrosis." Because the technology is so new, there is no accepted pediatric standard for the measurements. So, no one knows how to interpret it really. But, between that and the bloodwork the doctor believes that everything is normal-ish, for a kid with CF. So, we were told to basically stay the course, continue on our current dose of ursodiol, and repeat the ultrasound this coming summer, along with a repeat of the bloodwork. I am going to take the whole thing as a case of "no news is good news" and move along.
We have been continuing with our daily regimen of manual chest PT in addition to the vest in an effort to get the collapsed area of Lemon's lung to reinflate. I really wish we had some interim way to tell if it was doing anything. Or some way for me to know if I am doing the PT in the best possible spot. But, of course, no and no. So, we are doing our best and we will see where things stand next month. I am trying to line up a second doctor to look at the x-ray and give us an opinion on how to best move forward based on what we see there, so stay tuned on that front.
Other than that, we are just keeping our fingers crossed that we can avoid illnesses for a few weeks at least, so Lemon can get some more weight back on and so forth. Not going to school certainly helps. I feel as though there were just two weeks of vacation, and yet somehow Lemon only has school 3 days this week. I know, I know, I have turned into a curmudgeon. But I came by it honestly.
