Samuel's IPL

Happy Friday! Today was Samuel's IPL (Infant Pulmonary Lab) and it finally happened! It wasn't as bad as I had expected. I had told my mom "the beatings will commence at 1:00". But there were no beatings. I woke Samuel up at 7 this morning and gave him a bottle before he couldn't have any more milk. We played until about 10:20, when we went to the grocery store. I figured getting him out of the house and doing something would be less painful. He fell asleep on the way to and from the grocery store, which, luckily, is only about 2 miles away. He TRIED to go to sleep on the way to PCH, which is about 20 miles away, but Kevin and I did everything we could think of to keep him awake: rolled the windows up and down, honked the horn, sang action songs, and even did the cold wet washcloth to the face, neck, arms and legs.

If you have ever said to your child something like "One day you will WANT to go to sleep and I won't let you!" well, today was that day for me. Samuel has been fighting sleep for the past few days and today the roles were reversed. While it was funny some of the time, it wasn't a party. In the end, I felt cruel. I felt like a terrible mommy.

While at the store, he was really starting to get sleepy. I've never seen him act the way he did there. He actually laid his head down on the shopping cart and closed his eyes! Every fellow shopper commented on how sleepy he looked. However, the store employee must have thought I was crazy when I was crying in the baby food aisle. She said to me, "Boy, somebody looks sleepy!" and I replied, through my tears, "I know and I'm having a real problem with it." Surely she was thinking "sheesh, lady! just let him go to sleep!" but thankfully kept her crazy mom comments to herself.

After the morning, Samuel finally got to get some rest at 1:30. To make sure he was sleeping soundly, the doctor gave him some medicine to make him relaxed and sleepy. He was out cold at 1:35 and the test started at 1:40. It lasted for about an hour and we got results soon after it was complete.

For the results to make sense, you should know there are 4 parts to the test. The first 2 are done under "normal" circumstances i.e. no meds. The last 2 parts are after some albuterol is administered. The bad news is that his lung capacity is a little below normal. The good news is that after meds, it's excellent. While compiling the results the doctor asked if there was a history of asthma in our family. It turns out, Samuel's test results, according to this physician, are more consistant with someone who has asthma, not cystic fibrosis. I thought that was interesting and a blessing of sorts.

We left PCH with a very sleepy boy, who hasn't fought sleep once yet today, and a prescription for some med I can't remember. It's a steriod. We made sure to ask if it would get Samuel kicked out of the Olympics for doping. The nurse said it wouldn't. You can never be too careful about those things!

Thanks for checking in. Have a wonderful weekend!