Our Big Adventure Part Two
While waiting for the swallow study, we decided to get our Christmas tree- Caden helped daddy cut it down :) And then we went home to decorate!
So after gifts were bought and the tree decorated, we went for our swallow study- the Friday before Christmas. Got to radiology, and even though daddy was mad the appointment wasn't during a time he could make it, it worked out because only one parent is allowed back to the test.
We waited and waited and little man was getting antsy- he hadn't eaten since ten that morning and his appointment was two! Finally we went back and they placed him on a modified baby seat and handed me a bottle of barium to feed him, Now thank goodness babies have no taste buds because daddy and I BOTH had to have a barium swallow test and that stuff is NASTY! So he drinks some, they thicken it thin it and have me move his head and then the test is done. I asked if I could give him his bottle and they said I couldn't until the radiologist came back.
Radiologist came in and brought a picture of an airway. She explained that the way the airway works, the esophagus closes off when you swallow so that food/ drink stays out of your lungs. In Caden's case- the food was getting caught at the top of his esophagus and overflowing into his lungs. This isn't all that uncommon in babies- the easy fix is thickening their food to weight it down and help it go down the right path. Unfortunately in Caden's case- this did not happen and at all thicknesses he aspirated his food (it went down into his lungs). SO- this meant they had to call his pediatricians office to see what they recommended, and she warned me that it would probably be an NG tube. He had one in NICU- it is a small tube that goes in through his nose and down into his belly and his food is then given ti him through that tube.
In a wonderful twist of fate- the nurse practitioner was not in, just the pediatrician. Now she had never seen him and did not agree with our insistence on having a specialist look at him. It took every ounce in my being not to point that out as she told me she had talked to the hospitalist at the hospital already and Caden would be admitted and an NG tube placed until further tests could be run. My poor little baby was back in the hospital, just days before his first CHristmas.
The doctors were numerous and in and out of his room all night. He would get a surgery consult, nuerology, possibly GI and a regular pediatrician. I was warned that surgery comes in as a precaution in the event that he would need a G-tube. This is a tube placed surgically into his belly and goes straight to his stomach, and is a little more of a permanent solution. I was told an Upper GI test would be done to see the shape of his stomach and esophagus and an EEG to test his brain activity.After being bombarded with all this info and daddy finally gettingt the hospital, I drug my teary eyed self back to my car with an empty stroller.
So after gifts were bought and the tree decorated, we went for our swallow study- the Friday before Christmas. Got to radiology, and even though daddy was mad the appointment wasn't during a time he could make it, it worked out because only one parent is allowed back to the test.
We waited and waited and little man was getting antsy- he hadn't eaten since ten that morning and his appointment was two! Finally we went back and they placed him on a modified baby seat and handed me a bottle of barium to feed him, Now thank goodness babies have no taste buds because daddy and I BOTH had to have a barium swallow test and that stuff is NASTY! So he drinks some, they thicken it thin it and have me move his head and then the test is done. I asked if I could give him his bottle and they said I couldn't until the radiologist came back.
Radiologist came in and brought a picture of an airway. She explained that the way the airway works, the esophagus closes off when you swallow so that food/ drink stays out of your lungs. In Caden's case- the food was getting caught at the top of his esophagus and overflowing into his lungs. This isn't all that uncommon in babies- the easy fix is thickening their food to weight it down and help it go down the right path. Unfortunately in Caden's case- this did not happen and at all thicknesses he aspirated his food (it went down into his lungs). SO- this meant they had to call his pediatricians office to see what they recommended, and she warned me that it would probably be an NG tube. He had one in NICU- it is a small tube that goes in through his nose and down into his belly and his food is then given ti him through that tube.
In a wonderful twist of fate- the nurse practitioner was not in, just the pediatrician. Now she had never seen him and did not agree with our insistence on having a specialist look at him. It took every ounce in my being not to point that out as she told me she had talked to the hospitalist at the hospital already and Caden would be admitted and an NG tube placed until further tests could be run. My poor little baby was back in the hospital, just days before his first CHristmas.
The doctors were numerous and in and out of his room all night. He would get a surgery consult, nuerology, possibly GI and a regular pediatrician. I was warned that surgery comes in as a precaution in the event that he would need a G-tube. This is a tube placed surgically into his belly and goes straight to his stomach, and is a little more of a permanent solution. I was told an Upper GI test would be done to see the shape of his stomach and esophagus and an EEG to test his brain activity.After being bombarded with all this info and daddy finally gettingt the hospital, I drug my teary eyed self back to my car with an empty stroller.
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