Thursday, June 21, 2007

Cade's Eating Problems

These pictures are off of Shane's cell phone so they aren't very good.For those of you that keep asking me "when will he get his feeding tube out?", I have some information for you. Cade had a swallow study today which is done by adding barium to his food and drink and watch on X-ray (fluoroscopy) and we can see where it goes. He has an abnormal soft palate which does not close off the back of his throat. It causes food to go up through his nose and gives him an uncoordinated swallow. Also he will not be able to make certain speech sounds, especially B, M, or P. He aspirates trace amounts of every thickness of food and drink. The doctors recommended that he only have solids and not liquids and we keep practicing. He is doing a great job with table food and has been eating much more and progressing. However as long as his palate is the way it is, he will always have trouble eating. We need to talk to the surgeon about our options for his palate and hopefully will be able to operate soon. Even with surgical intervention, his palate may never work correctly. We can only hope that they can fix it and he won't need his feeding tube forever. We will keep you updated.

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