Once more...

We have been swamped with packing and finalizing plans for our big move! We are all so excited about a fresh, healthy start!

Wanted to update on Britta while we still have computer's up and internet going here.

She's doing "okay." Her heart looks good, though her cardiologist is still having difficulty viewing her entire heart and valves through all of the crud in her lungs.

Her breathing is not improving despite the addition of new meds, and actually, seems to be getting worse. We went to the pulmonologist again last week and he agreed. Though he feels like she will experience a marked improvement in a drier climate, he wants to be thorough before releasing her to someone new's care and has scheduled her to have an outpatient procedure on June 14th.

We'll take her to Lafayette and they will put her under general anesthesia (dislike) and perform a lung lavage to clear all of the crud out of her lungs and wash them with saline. They will also do a bronchoscopy to check for any abnormalities of her lungs that might be contributing to her difficulty breathing and stridor. They are specifically looking for cysts, tumors, narrowing of passageways and several other things, and will remove tissue samples to test for various conditions and diseases.

While we are optimistic that Britta has nothing else wrong with her, that she has been through enough already and there is no way that she would have to endure any other illness, we are, of course, cautious because we never believed that she would need emergency open heart surgery to save her life either.

We don't love that she has to go through this. Be intubated again or go under general anesthesia, but we are confident in her doctors decision and hope that they will be able to find answers to her breathing difficulties and get her feeling much better very soon.