August was crazy!

Ok, ok...i'm finally updating the blog as I have been saying that I would for I don't know how long.
August has been a very eventful month for this family. Some things have been scary, while others have been joyous and exciting.
First, i'll explain what has been going on with Aubrey. As some of you know, Aubrey had a pretty bad dairy allergy as a baby. Any trace of dairy anywhere in an ingredient list would cause her to have an upset tummy and hours of crying. I took a vegan cooking course and we all went vegan for the remainder of time that I nursed Aubrey. We tried introducing dairy again after she turned a year old, but  she was still extremely sensitive to it. Along with the upset tummies, it seemed like Aubrey was always getting sick, like she kept getting cold after cold. So Aubrey has always had a cough, but due to the coincidence of allergies and colds, we didn't notice anything odd about it. We got a dog last April, and I think I really noticed the cough around the time that the puppy began to shed. I began to think she was allergic to dogs. The cough was so common and everyday, that to be honest, we kind of stopped noticing it. She has always made this weird gasping for air sound at the end of her coughing fits, but we would ask her if she was ok, and she would resume whatever she was doing before the coughing started. We finally re-homed the dog in March I believe. The coughing didn't go away, and I began to realize that it had seemed to have gotten worse over the last year, and that we just stopped noticing it. I took her in for a blood draw allergy test. Aubrey was a trooper and didn't make a peep or flinch a muscle, she just watched. The results came back as being negative to all that she was tested for, to include dairy and dogs. I began doing research, and I recorded her coughs and the gasping for air. Everything I read that described her cough suggested asthma. One article I read said that asthma is on the rise in toddlers and researches aren't quite sure why. The coughing fits are usually worse at night, but happen all throughout the day. Some nights the coughing fits would be so bad that she couldn't fall asleep for hours. On those nights, I would just hold her. One night while Eddie was out of state for training, I was holding Aubrey and she had finally fallen asleep. She suddenly gasped for air as though she hadn't been breathing, without having a coughing fit. It really scared me and I told Eddie that we needed to get her in as soon as he was back. We did jus that and the Dr said that asthma was what came to her mind when she listened to us explain what was going on and after she heard the recordings. When she listened to Aubrey's lungs, she didn't hear any wheezing. When she listened to Aubrey's heart, she picked up murmur. We mentioned that Timothy's cardiologist had told us that Aubrey would have an 80% chance of having the same heart condition that Timothy does.
The Dr said that we could try and inhaler and see if it helped. She mentioned albuterol. I asked about allergic reactions or side affects, and she began explaining how it works. When she said that it speeds up the heart, I told her that we probably shouldn't try it then because Timothy cannot have any stimulants, to include caffeine because it puts him at risk for arrhythmia. The Dr made an appointment for Aubrey with Timothy's cardiologist before we left the office. We saw that cardiologist two days later. He said that he did hear the murmur, but that it sounded like an innocent one. He did an echocardiogram and saw that Aubrey does not have the same heart condition as Timothy, but thought he saw what is called a vascular ring. Put simply, the aorta valve comes up out of the heart and turns into arteries and veins. It looked as though one of those veins was wrapped around the trachea and esophagus. The cardiologist said that the ultrasound was the worst tool for that and that she would need an MRI to confirm it, and that unfortunately, she would have to be sedated.
The MRI was exactly a week later, and after hearing the recordings of Aubrey's coughs and gasping, they took extra precaution before even giving Aubrey the Versed (loopy drug before the actual anesthetic drug). They did a chest x-ray to make sure there was nothing that was going to block airways  once everything was relaxed with the Versed. That came back fine so they gave her the Versed. That was incredibly difficult for us to watch, especially for Eddie. While it might have been entertaining on an older kid or an adult, it was not fun to see Aubrey like that. A three year old cannot understand why she suddenly feels doped up and has no control over her body or emotions. She would laugh one second at absolutely nothing, then begin sobbing. She wasn't being Aubrey. The Dr and nurses in the pediatrics anesthetics team took extra cautions again, and while they normally don't administer the anesthetic until the patient is in the MRI machine, they prepared for the worse and did it in the PICU. There is already a risk for sedation, and there was an increased for Aubrey. Her heart could have stopped, she could have stopped breathing, etc. Things that can happen anyways, they were extra weary about BECAUSE they didn't know what was going on with her heart, lungs, etc. Everything went fine, and we got the results back a week later. No vascular ring, so no surgery needed (the only way to correct vascular ring). While we are so relieved, we are back to square one trying to figure out what is wrong. SO. Praise God that it is not a surgery required problem. That we know of.
Other happenings! Eddie turned 34! We had a pretty quiet family celebration the day after. Timothy started 6th grade, and yes, we're still homeschooling. That is working really well for our family and Timothy loves it. We're able to give him a faith-based education in the comfort of our home. The biggest "happy" news is that Eddie made SWAT. For any of you who have been following my blog in the past, you'll remember that he tried out before. In fact, three times total. Each time it was a pretty lengthy and nail-biting experience. Each time he made the list, and was the next one on the list, but no positions opened before the list expired. We've always known it was God's plan, it just hadn't been God's timing before. So we are very happy about that, and I am so proud of Eddie's perseverance.
We are doing well and getting ready for the long winter. We miss everyone who lives everywhere but here, and we hope that some of you will come visit us, and that we can visit others. Forgive me for the lengthy post, and for the pictures seeming like other posts. I updated with a combination of the computer and my phone.