Reading Buddy

Carson loves his baby.  Here he is reading with her.  He was making sure she was on the right page with him!

Throat Cultures

At every CF clinic visit, a nurse will swab the back of Carson's throat. It takes about a week to get the results back to see if he has cultured any nasty bugs.  He's been pretty clean in the past.  He cultured staph once, but we were able to clear it up with antibiotics by his next appointment.

In July, Carson cultured a really nasty bug for CFers--pseudomonas.  This has been found to lead to lung function deterioration.  I was really upset when we got the call about it.  Most CFers will culture it at some point, but I didn't want it to be this early.  Carson was put on a 28-day regimine of TOBI, which is an super expensive ($1,600/month) inhaled antibiotic as well as an oral antibiotic. 

We had to wait a week after he completed his medication to get another throat culture and then another week to get the results.  The results came back on Monday and Carson got rid of it!  But...he has now cultured MRSA (which is a drug-resistant form of staph).  This poor guy can't catch a break.  He was put on an oral antibiotic and a cream we put up his nose twice a day.  I got another call on Thursday that they would like to put him on a second antibiotic now.  The main antibiotic that they use for MRSA is bactrim, which Carson is allergic to.  After the doctors did more research, they decided to add this additional med to help make up for the one he can't take.

We'll know if he gets rid of it after his October clinic visit.  If he doesn't, they will just consider it part of his normal flora (bugs he just has).  They will also not treat it again unless he's showing some symptoms.  As of right now, you'd never know that he had pseudomonas or MRSA.

Zoo

Emily and I took Carson to the Lincoln's Children Zoo this morning.  Since it was going to be a bit cooler today, I thought it would be a great time to go.  Carson was excited, but didn't want to look at anything for more than a second.  He wanted to see the donkeys--he thought that the horses and goats were donkeys. 

We ended our short trip on the train.  He loved it!

Carson Loves to Read

Carson loves his books.  Here he reads a book about animals.  Sadly, he thinks the zebra is a horse.

This is Carson reading Where's Spot?  He has found Spot in the basket and is very excited.  By the way, he's read this book a million times, but still gets excited about it.

Fun in the Sun

I bought Carson a new swimming pool this summer.  The first day, he would only stand in it and he absolutely hated sliding into it.  Fast forward to a few days later, he will now jump and and slide on in!

Day 1:

 

Day 2:

Old Becomes New--Part 2

The other thing Carson has inherited is a 1950s mini dining set.  It was covered in mold, the chairs were rusty, and the vinyl was damaged.  I spent the afternoon cleaning it and recovering the chairs with new vinyl.  I think they look pretty good.  Carson immediately wanted to sit at it.  So, I let him eat dinner at it tonight.

Old Becoming New

 Carson got a "new" toy from great grandma's house.  It's a retro helicopter that makes sounds and the propeller spins when it is pulled.  Carson loves to run around the first floor pulling it behind him.  It's so nice that a classic toy is still entertaining in this world of high-tech toys :)