Long Over Due

I should have had this post written days ago, but I feel like I've been driving in circles...which I kind of have been.

This weekend was exciting for our house...I baby that started crawling on all fours and pulling himself up to his feet more and more. He also started saying Mom. He would be playing in the living room and I would be in the back bedroom and I would here...Mom, Mom, Mom...the whole way down the hall on the way to see me! :)

Monday we hit Omaha for another swallow study, but this time at Bergan. I was introduced to a very vibrant Speech Therapist name nothing better than...Jen! :) She was so good with Chris. We did the test and sure enough...same results, but WAY different approach.

The test showed that his tongue was not working properly, meaning it was not "working" right. He is also pocketing things above his larynx, the part that protects his trachea and prevents aspiration. His is sluggish and therefore causing him to aspirate. The heavier foods do better for him.

Jen sat down with me...actually sat down on the floor with Chris...and talked things out. Her option was making the bottles thicker, giving his last bottle at 5 and then a bowel of cereal at bedtime and to try E stim therapy. Note: I didn't say feeding tube! :)

Our plan was to wait and see what Pulmonology said and go from there.

So...Pulmonology...Dr. Murphy said that the chest xrays look good and show no signs of injury to his lungs yet. His concern...of course...was to protect his lungs. He was willing to try the therapy and changes that Jen had set out, but said that if he has any more choking incidences he gets a feeding tube. We talked about an NG vs one that would go in to his belly (G button) and the G button would not be out. He said that if there is reflux that the G button is the way to go., but that was just talk. He said to let him know how he was doing on Friday.

So Jen suggested that we start the E Stim therapy today to help show improvement to ward off the feeding tube. Away we went at 1 p.m. She hooked him up, put on a pink hat to hold the electrodes on and we got a 45 min therapy out of him. So it was good. The downfall is that we have to stay another day in Omaha to repeat therapy tomorrow. Then it will be every Monday through Wednesday until...not sure on that answer yet.

This E Stim therapy is where they put electrodes under his chin and on his neck and it gets his muscles to contract and relax in patterns. During this they feed him and it is supposed to help train his tongue and throat to work better. We will do 6-8 treatments then re-evaluate.

I'm writing this tired so I apologize for anything that is unclear. I will probably have to re-read it tomorrow and write an addendum! :) But good things so far. The only bad thing is lots of travling, but we will get through it. Just pray for good weather for awhile.