She Swallows

Vera had her first VFSS today. For Mommy and Daddy, it was like she was going to take an exam. We told her "Do your best ok? Don't panic, stay calm. Remember mommy taught you to umm mum mum?"

We knew Vera's record for sitting still on her own: 5 minutes. So the challenge was keeping her still long enough for the study. We knew that once she cranks up, it'd be over.

It was quite an experience. Mommy had to wear a full-bodied radiation vest and was the only one allowed to be with Vera. Barium was put into her milk, water and vege puree so it'd show us the stuff as it travels down her airway. Vera was strapped into a chair and you could see an imaging of her mouth as shown here.

The first few teaspoons of puree were well-received by the little tubby. Then Vera started to act up. Mommy played her music toy, did her favourite light touch massage, and she calmed down enough for milk testing. It must have been the strange taste of the barium or the strapping down, for she was struggling to be free in no time.

We did not get to stress her enough to test her threshold (before aspiration takes effect). This is usually done so we know how much to push when doing therapy. But we got enough down to arrive at the following conclusions:

1) Vera can swallow. But it takes several tongue movements before 1 swallow.
2) There's a lot of tongue extrusion still (sliding tongue out instead of inwards). Something we need to work on.
3) The spoon works better than the syringe for giving her liquids. It stimulates more tongue movement as it pre-empts her that something is coming through. With the syringe, liquids pool in her throat which is dangerous.

Bottom line, Chu-chu did much better than I had hoped. We'll certainly have a happy 9 month celebration this weekend. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for her continued improvement!