The Diagnosis.

Our pulmonolgist appointment was excellent!

First of all, we really liked the doctor, so if you are in need of a pediatric pulmonolgist (and we truly hope you aren't) just ask and I'll get you his name and number.

Cassidy had x-rays of her lungs taken to rule out a number of conditions such as asthma, any developmental defects, or pneumonia. Her lungs and heart are a normal size and look good, with the exception of her bronchioli.

The diagnosis: bronchiolitis... or inflammation of her bronchioli likely caused by some virus she had.

We are starting a longer run of the oral steroid to decrease inflammation (two weeks, with the dose cut in half the second week) and we get to decrease the number of NEB treatments but increase the dose. So we are going to NEB treat once a day before bed with the inhaled steroid, and only use the bronchial dialator as necessary (if she seems to be wheezing more or getting a new cold).

The prognosis: She'll grow out of it. As her airways get larger, she will be less affected by the congestion until it's completely resolved. In the mean time, we'll continue the NEB treatments once a day for the next 3-4 months.

The doctor said he didn't think it would be necessary to see him again as long as things didn't get much worse, and was confident that things would get significantly better over the next couple months.

Overall, we are thrilled! With our pediatrician tossing around words like cystic fibrosis, asthma, developmental defect, etc, we couldn't be happier with "bronchiolitis".