Ella had her swallow test yesterday. The speech pathologists placed her in a Tumble Form chair — just like the one she has at home. Then they X-rayed her while she swallowed various foods with barium. They started with formula and then tried thicker types of food ending with some type of nectar. They also tried different size nipples on the bottles and spoon feed her as well. I think they were being a little over-cautious because as far as I could see she was sucking everything down in the right way which surprised me because I thought she’d all but forgotten the sucking reflex. She took right to the bottle though. But they determined that she might aspirate on thin liquids and suggested that we give her only stage II foods right now (baby food/baby cereal, etc.). I’m happy we can give her something but it is unclear to me, if she’s sucking the bottle so well, how we will know when the coast is clear for giving her everything that she had before the operation and taking out the NJ tube. I was pleased to see her gulp down the banana mush just like her old self. I saw alot of improvement yesterday. She still grimaces in pain whenever she’s moved and her head is still a sagging swollen sac on one side but she was very alert, especially when Daddy came around at the end of the day. We still don’t know exactly when the discharge will be.
We’ve decided not to go to the rehab hospital.