Yesterday I took Colin to Children's Hospital for a swallow study. We meet with a speech therapist who talked to me at length about Colin's issues and the concerns we have for him.
We then went down to the x-ray room and we feed him some food and drinks all while watching it on a video screen.
They determined that he does have a slight aspiration. To try to keep this to a minimum we are to not let him drink from a straw or an open cup. By limiting him to a sippy cup he has to take smaller sips and not overflow his throat and airway.
They feel that the aspiration could be a small part of the issues he has been having but they do not feel that it is the main cause or the sole reason for all the cases of pneumonia and breathing issues.
They also informed me that he has a laryngeal cleft which means he has a pin size hole in the muscles that go to his vocal cords. Since it is a stage one that means that they will more than likely not do surgery and he will have to learn to eat and drink carefully so that as little fluid as possible enters into the airways.
I felt so defeated after his appointment when looking up the statics for the cleft it said that only 10,000 to 20,000 babies are born with it each year.
I am grateful that we are getting answers and we are putting pieces of this puzzle together, however I wish we could get answers faster and sooner, because the wait is weighing on me.
I keep looking at the calendar and knowing how close we are to colder weather and more colds and illness it makes my stomach turn.
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