Infant PFT

Colby had his second Infant pulmonary function test this morning!  This will be his last one, because he is getting too big for the box!  Luckily, as they get older it becomes MUCH easier to test their lung function.  Once Colby is big enough he will breathe into a tube to test how rapidly his lungs release air.  It started last night, because we had to keep him up extra late and wake him up early this morning!  We do this so that he will be tired and will go to sleep easily when the time comes!  Not only did we have a VERY sleepy boy but also a hungry one!  Because he cannot eat for 12 hours prior.  He did very good though, the only time he got mad at me was when I was trying to keep him awake on the 45 minute car ride to the hospital!  He wanted to take a snooze!!! :)

They start off by giving Colby Chloral Hydrate, this is an oral sedation medicine that knocks Colby out without having anesthesia.  It tastes absolutely horrible and usually kids scream and fight it the entire time!  Luckily, Colby just made a little face in between sucks but no tears or fighting here!  (He must be used to all the crazy food mom makes him eat! )

 

Then they get him all hooked up to the machines, to keep track of him while he is out…just in case he were to stop breathing…

Then we put him to sleep!  Which took a whole 30 seconds! :)

Then they put him in the “box”.  They put a vest around him that they fill up and force air out of.  What this does is it tests how quickly your lungs release the air.  For a healthy person you would release the air very rapidly, but someone who has CF or is sick the air will not come out as rapidly which is a decline in lung function!  This is something you do not want but unfortunately, is inevitable with CF.

He has oxygen on him the entire time….

This is the scary part…when they shut the box!  The first time Colby did this I was devastated, but having gone through it once I was a bit more prepared to what I was going to witness.  It is so great to be able to test his lung function and see over time how is health is.  Because Colby was at the MAX for the box (as you can see his legs are bent!) and he can only have a certain dose of the medication he actually woke up at the very end!  Last time he was only 9 months and I think it took close to an hour to wake up!

He was really wobbly when he woke up and of course was starving!  So we gave him some food and got the okay to head home!  When we got home, we put Colby down and he couldn’t walk!  HE was falling everywhere.  It was almost like if you were to spin him for a few minutes and let him walk!  So we gave him some more food and he got to take another nap!

He did so well for such a scary test!  I am so lucky to have such a good little boy who puts up with all this!