Swallow Test

We left the hospital last night feeling pretty discouraged because Carter had a really hard day with his tube feedings. He was uncomforatable, cranky, spit up some, and had really bad reflux. So we were really anxious this morning for the Swallow test. We were at the hosptial about 7:45 for the test. We packed him up and wheeled him down to radiology. It only took about 5 minutes to get downstairs, but for his field trip they placed a blanket over the top of his crib so that he is completely covered, simply because people are curious, and we want to avoid germs, etc. We got down into radiology, and lifted up his blanket and that little stinker had taken his one opportunity of not being looked at constantly to take out his feeding tube!! In the room was the occupational therapist, who's job it was to feed Carter his barium laced bottle. Then the specialist who kept her eyes on the video screen the entire time, to not only evaluate the problem, but could see the second he started to aspirate on the milk and take it into his lungs, and could stop the test. Then the radiology specialist, who happened to be our stake executive secretary, and knows Karl pretty well. Then the NICU nurse that came with us. I am so grateful that she was the nurse that was on duty today, because she just had a knack for knowing when to make a small joke, or when to give a hug and reassure me that everything was going to be okay.
So the test itself was really interesting. On the screen you could see the milk, as he began to drink it, and a dark stream going into his mouth. At first he did okay, the first couple of sucks went down fine, and then all of a sudden, you could see the liquid completely stop going down, and just swirling around in his throat. It continued to back up into his throat and mouth, not allowing anything to go down, until it backed up enough and went up his nose, or down his airway. So basically, there is a muscle at the bottom of the throat, that contracts down and opens to allow food to go into the stomach, but it just stays contracted. They are hoping at this point that it is a premature issue, and that the connection betweent the brain and that muscle just needs to mature a little. So they are going to tube feed for 1 week, no more feeding tests, and then repeat the test next Wed. or Thursday. They will be able to see if the muscle is doing a better job or not. If it is, that we can continue on the idea that it is a premature issue, and if it doesn't improve there there are other options at that point...medicine, surgery etc. So at the least we are there for at least a couple more weeks, and go from there.
They also decided to half the amount of milk at each feeding, and just feed him more frequently. They are also adding rice cereal to it, to make it thicker, and have it be heavier in his stomach, so its not as likely to come back up. He also isn't gaining any weight, because he is using SO much energy with the reflux problems, so they are adding a caloric supplement to his milk. Halving the amount of milk made a world of difference. We did half the amount of milk at his 8 AM feeding, and he didn't have ANY reflux and slept through the whole thing. So that was fantastic!!
Karls car has now broken down 5 times on the way to the hosptial or on the way there. We have replaced the battery, cleaned the connections, taken into the shop twice, and now has the 3rd alternator in. Of course the car hasn't given us so much as hiccup in the last 2 1/2 years, and chooses this week to break down! I think if it breaks down again I'm going to go to the repair shop and ask for a refund and just buy a horse!