Whitney had her swallow study done and the good news is that she does not have a problem with her anatomy! The x-rays showed that she's holding the food in the back of her throat and not swallowing until something pureed or liquid comes along. So, she thinks she's choking, but she actually just isn't chewing and therefore isn't able to get the food down without help. So, for now we will just continue to try to help her work on chewing. We were told to ask our Speech Therapist about excercises we could do to help her learn to chew, but so far the ST hasn't had many ideas to help Whitney since Whit can't comprehend what she's trying to tell her. We are working on immitation and exaggerated chewing motions to try to get her jaw and tongue moving. She is still only accepting pureed stage 2 baby foods without complaining. We have been adding some texture to these foods by crumbling finely crushed graham crackers and Gerber puffs into every-other bite of food. Sometimes she does okay with that, but other times she gags.
As for Whit's wheelchair, we are still waiting to find a way to buy her new chair. We still have the chair that the medical supply store loaned us, but it's a really old chair and I don't know how long they'll let us keep it. It's been really nice because she likes to ride in it and we are able to take it into restaurants and use it as a highchair without having to worry about her throwing her head back and hurting herself. It's just really big, so I'm anxious to get the new chair because it's supposed to be much more compact. The problem is that we have not met our deductible this year (which is a large chunk of change). So, our insurance is wanting us to pay a LARGE amount up front before they will even order the new wheelchair. Yikes! We are waiting to see if we can figure out a way to get some help from a local foundation who offers assistance to families of disabled kids who need equipment. Otherwise, we may have to give back the borrowed chair and forget about it altogether. I could write an entire book about the shortfalls of our U.S. system, but I won't. I want to keep this whole experience with Whit as uplifting as possible. I'll keep my personal issues to myself.....for now :)
I've included a few photos of Whit. The first is how I often find her in her crib lately! Yes...she is finally pulling to stand!!!!!! This is HUGE for Whitney. I couldn't believe it the first time I saw it. Time to lower the crib mattress!!!! The second photo was taken right before the began her swallow study. She's sitting in a feeding chair with the x-ray machine in the background. Jason and I had to wear vests during the x-rays, but we were able to stay with her and watch the food as it went down her throat.
