Roller coaster

I know I said it in one of my last posts, but life has seemed a lot like a roller coaster of ups and downs lately, and today was no exception.

I had my CF follow-up today. My lung function went up! Yay! But only by 4 percentage points. Boo.

The doctor decided IV meds are done and I can get the PICC line removed! Yay! But the home nursing company never got the order so it's in my arm until tomorrow. Boo.

It was a beautiful day so we went to the park with some friends! Yay! Then I locked the kids in the car. Boo.

Some more details...

My lung function is up a bit, but I dropped a total of 15 percentage points and I've only gained back a total of 5 percentage points so I'm still 10 percentage points below my "baseline" (where I started), but even my baseline was much lower than I wanted it to be. It's pretty obvious that I'm not gaining a lot of benefit from the antibiotics, so thankfully we're done with that (and I can finally sleep a FULL night!). The doctor showed me my CT scan, which was pretty neat, and again stated that there's nothing too concerning, but given the fact that my lung function is still being pretty stubborn, he'd be open to doing a bronchoscopy if I am. In the meantime he's decided to put me on an antifungal medication to treat a fungus that has been cultured in my lungs (yeah. Fungus. Gross, huh?). He said usually fungi aren't problematic, but it's our best bet at this point. Antibiotics only kill bacteria, not fungi (or even viruses, which would explain why I got a cold last week even though I was on antibiotics!), so it could be quite possible that whatever is causing this exacerbation is not one of the two bacteria that we were treating. We had initially agreed to do the bronchoscopy on Friday next week, then we both realized we wouldn't be here! So the plan is to do the antifungal medication and if I feel significantly better we'll skip the bronchoscopy for now, otherwise we'll plan for it on April 11th.

I also went ahead and did my 2-hour fasting oral glucose tolerance test while I was at the clinic today. Any woman who has had a child will probably agree with me on just how horrible that drink is! Aside from the fact that I had a mean episode of hypoglycemia on my way home (before I could get something to eat), everything went fine. My numbers were good so I'm free from worrying about CF-related diabetes (for this year, at least).

And would you believe that, even though the home nursing company spoke with my doctor and he verbally told them to remove the PICC line, they couldn't do it until he faxed over written orders? Liability reasons, of course, but they never received them, so the PICC line is still in. I told Jason it was lucky he was the one who answered that phone call or I might have asked if they'd rather the liability of me removing it myself. ;p If you actually know me, you know I would never do that; I am not a rule-breaker. And I was actually kind of frustrated because my doctor and the home nursing company have both been very helpful and on top of things through all of this, so I'm not sure where the breakdown happened.

So now the story you're really waiting for... how I locked my kids in the car. And the truth is, I really don't know! There are two things that I usually make sure of, though, and I failed on both accounts today. #1- I try to make sure never to set my keys down in the car when I'm buckling the boys. I always try to make sure they are in my back pocket or purse. #2- I never like for all the doors to be closed with me on the outside, even if I do have the keys. Today, though, I happened to set the keys down on the seat next to James as I buckled him (I think he was thrashing around and I was trying to wrangle him). Then, just as I closed James' door to head to Drew's side, Drew hit the button that closes his door (he's been panicking about bugs getting in the car now that it's spring). Then I heard an ominous "click" telling me the doors just locked. It's the "click" that confuses me because there is no lock button where Drew was. My van does have a delayed lock feature where, if I push the lock button on the clicker while doors are still open, it waits until all the doors are closed, then locks the doors. Obviously that must have been what happened, but I was unaware of the fact that the "lock" button got pressed. Of course, when I heard the click, I instinctively grabbed for my back pocket only to realize my keys were not there!! Thankfully Drew wasn't buckled yet, so we had him try to open his door. No luck. He climbed to the front seat and we guided him to hit the unlock button. No luck!! Apparently the delayed lock feature also disables the car from being unlocked from inside? I can't understand that at all, but Jason says it has happened to him. We had Drew try all the doors, and the lock button worked (you would hear the doors all lock) but when he pressed unlock, nothing happened. Thankfully my friends Frank and Amanda were with me which helped to keep me calm (and also helped me not to feel like I was crazy as we watched Drew press the unlock button with no response). Amanda was finally the one that asked if the doors had a manual lock that could be pulled up. I have no idea what it's called or how to describe it well, so this is what I mean:

Yes, we live in such a digital era that we didn't think of  a manual option at first!

Nope, my van doesn't have locks like that! After another moment or two we realized the van does have a manual lock, it was just in a different place, right above the door handle.

See it? We didn't at first.
This one is in the "unlocked" position making it easier to see.

Finally we coaxed Drew to flip that (3-year-olds don't generally understand the mechanics of cars, so it took a little explaining) and the front door unlocked, which then cued the car alarm. Then it was a scramble to try and get the other doors unlocked and opened so I could get to the keys, but without the electronic unlock button working, we couldn't get the back doors unlocked, so I had to play a game of "Twister" as I tried to climb into the back and over top of James to get to the keys (effectively knocking them UNDER the car seat, making it that much more difficult to get them). I finally got the keys in hand and the car started, ending the crazy battle. Phew! Obviously everyone was fine, minus me being a bit rattled, and Jason being a bit late to meet someone (I was trying to rush home to give him money I had accidentally left in my purse... the story only makes sense this way, right?). If this had happened in the middle of the summer, I most certainly would have been panicking! It does not take long at all for a car to get too hot for children here in the summer. But James just sucked his thumb through the whole event (he was ready to snooze and I don't think he even knew anything was going on), and Drew grinned the entire time like it was a really fun game. I used to be notorious for locking my keys in the car, but I think this may just be a first since Drew was born. Hopefully the last? (I kind of doubt it.)

Overall, today was an "up" day, in spite of the little downhills. The flowers I bought for myself may have helped with that. :)