Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Luna’s Inhaler

We started Luna on her FlowVent inhaler a little over a week ago. I was very anxious to start Luna on the inhaler because I was curious if it was going to help her cough. We have gotten to a point that none of the other medicine was working, so we had a lot of eggs in the inhaler basket.

We gave Luna her first puff of the inhaler at night so we could be around to see if she experienced any negative side effects. After her first dose, the rest of the night went awesome! Luna's cough was significantly less, not gone, but a lot better. We were like play by play commentators all night because Luna would do something and we would be like, she didn't cough! She always coughs when she jumps up the step coming into the house or some other ordinary thing. To say we were a little excited would be an understatement.

After a few days passed and Luna had a few more puffs from the inhaler, Luna's cough got even better. Granted, she still has breathing and coughing issues, but she is certainly doing a lot better.

I was very concerned with how Luna would do taking her medicine, but we have a pretty good system in place to make sure she gets her meds. It is a two person job, but so far it has been working well for us.

One of us sits behind Luna and keeps her still, while the other one puts the mask on Luna's face. The AeroDawg chamber has a little indicator that lets us know if Luna is breathing in or out. It is also a good way to know that we have a good seal with the mask on her nose. When Luna is breathing in, we push the inhaler and keep the mask on for 3-5 breathes so she gets her medicine. As soon, as she is done, she promptly gets rewarded with treats and lots of praise. Of course, her brothers are right next to her during this whole procedure encouraging Luna to breathe faster so they can get to the treat portion of the ordeal faster.

We are stepping Luna down off the prednisone to see if we can get her completely off that drug. In another week, we will have a better idea of if we can get Luna completely off of prednisone.

We are super excited that the FlowVent inhaler is helping Luna. If Luna is going to be taking the inhaler long term our next task is to find out the best place to purchase it from as it is quite pricey (~$200 / 120 puffs). The best we have been able to do locally is $178 from the Sam's Club pharmacy.