It's been a while since I've posted anything about Christian's Pectus. There really hasn't been anything to talk about until this week. Tuesday he went to Cincinnati Children's Hospital to start all of his tests. Y'all, let me first start off by telling you how amazing these people are who work at this hospital. They have so much love and patience for my child. My very talkative, goofy, nervous child. I've noticed that when he's nervous he won't admit it, but he will talk non stop about the most random, weird things. The nurses are so sweet and usually just laugh at him. But, he does have a tendency to talk a little too much during times that he needs to be still. We're still working on that part.
So, back to Tuesday. We first started out with an EKG. It didn't take long to do and it was a pretty quick appointment. Next we were off to the Pulmonary Function Test. This was by far the hardest thing he had to do that day. He had to do a series of breathing tests. Both standing and sitting inside of a box. It almost looked like a phone booth. Remember those things? lol He did an amazing job!! After those tests were complete they told us to wait in the waiting room and to give him a snack while they got the exercise room ready. After about 15 minutes they came to get us. I was in there with him along with three nurses. The nurse who did his breathing exercises, the exercise nurse, and another nurse who was monitoring his blood pressure. Please forgive me for not remembering the technical terms of these sweet ladies. As you can imagine my brain was going a mile a minute at this point.
He was hooked up to a machine which monitored his heart. Then they put a mask on him. He was making jokes about looking like Hannibal Lecter ( He really knows nothing about the movie...... LOL). He was also saying it felt like he was beginning the first stages of becoming a super hero. lol I'll post a picture below. After they had everything hooked up and made sure the computers were reading things correctly he got onto an exercise bike. He had to pedal the bike for as long as he could. Until he physically could not do it any more. It started off easy and as time went by the resistance on the pedals would increase as if he were pedaling up a steep hill. They wanted his heart rate to be at 170bpm before he stopped. Several times he would have to take in a deep breath and let it out. (The mask was hooked up to a machine as well to monitor his breathing through the exercise.) They would also check his blood pressure every few minutes. Just as his heart rate hit 170 he said he couldn't pedal any more. He was done. He did amazing!! I was so proud of my boy. Afterwards was the cool off stage. The resistance was gone from the pedals but he had to slowly pedal so his legs wouldn't cramp up. After two minutes of doing that they removed his mask and let him sit in a chair. They monitored his blood pressure until it was back to normal and he had a glass of water.
After the tests was finished they removed the ace bandages they wrapped around him to keep all the wires in place. The nurse told me they throw them away and asked if I'd have any use for them. I said I didn't think so and Christian spoke up and said he would. LOL Seriously, I think this kid is a hoarder. I'm worried!!!! LOL He asked them to put it in a bio hazard bag. He's such a goober.
We were finished with the PFT's so next we went to the allergy nurse. Thankfully it was right down the hallway. Actually, it was a shared waiting room so we didn't have to find our way through the hospital again. That's a huge relief. The allergy patches were pretty easy to apply. They put them on his forearm and told me he has to wear them for 48 hours. I will be removing that today at 2:30. I'll try to include a picture if I can remember to take one. 😉 Friday we go back to have the allergy test read as well as a Cardiac MRI. I'm not sure exactly what will happen with that, but I will be sure to update as soon as I can.
Thank you to everyone who has read this blog post. I really hope that at some point I'll be able to offer advice and support for other families going through this journey. If you have any advice or tips for me please let me know!! I'd love to hear them. xxoo
Hooked up for Pulmonary Function Test!!
Allergy Patches
