Arianna had her PFT's done a few weeks ago. The nurse, Darcie, was so impressed with how well she did. Normally they don't do this test until the kids are about 10 years old but because we are trying to figure out what is going on with her lungs we wanted to give it a try. She had to do 3 different tests. One of them is the one to the right and is very simple, like the one she does in clinic. Deep breaths and blows until her lungs are empty.
The second test sounded like popcorn and I was suprised she wasn't scared by it. She had to hold her cheeks as the mouthpiece would cut the the airflow on and off. You can see she follows direction very well here. It also helps that Darcie is the same nurse that does her tests in clinic and she has had alot of practice with those tests already.
The next test is in "The Box" and I was not sure how she would feel about that one. She did GREAT! She has to follow more detailed directions for this test. At one point the machine will cut off the air flow and she has to keep breathing. We did it a few times but she got it down!
RESULTS
She has both obstructive and restrictive asthma. Obstructive asthma means the flow in and out of the air is impaired. Restrictive asthma means her lungs are small and do not fill up well. The elasticity is not working well.
We continue to do the Pulmicort twice a day since this is the best treatment for now. However, this does not really answer the unknown question of why the base of her lungs look so bad on CT and xray. Also why she gets so sick and easily gets pneumonia. We are concerned that a GI component could be at play so that is our next step..
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