Great News

Abby had her swallow study on Thursday. For this test, Abby is placed in front of an x-ray machine and given different things to eat or drink that have all been mixed with barium (a substance that shows up on x-ray). The technicians then watch on the x-ray as Abby moves the food around her mouth and swallows. The purpose of the test is to see how she handles different textures and liquids and how safely she swallows them. If she were to aspirate on something, it would be visible during this study. I was hoping that we would get good results, and we did! Abby did great with everything we gave her. She had control of what was in her mouth and swallowed effectively and safely. Her liquids no longer need to be quite as thick and we can start introducing more slippery/sticky solids like cheese and bread. But the best part is that they aren't recommending that Abby come back for another study unless we feel there is a reason to have her checked. That is AMAZING! That means as soon as Abby masters one texture, we can move on to another, and then another, until she is eating EVERYTHING . It will still be a slow process - we will need to ease our way into things and maybe only introduce one new food each week. But knowing that her swallow has improved so much is very encouraging. I seriously wanted to do a happy dance in the parking lot after the test! I can't wait for the day when we can say GOOD-BYE to the feeding tube!! That will be a happy day. But for now we can at least start to decrease the amount of formula she gets since she is eating a bit more by mouth, which in turn should make her hungrier and want to eat even larger portions by mouth. Yay for Abby!! This is GREAT news!

We hope you all had a happy Easter!

(Horrible picture...I know. But it was the best we could get.)

Here are some Easter memories from last year...

This is quite possibly my favorite picture EVER.

Spencer woke up that morning with a cold...he was not a happy camper!

Egg hunt with cousins.

Her hair is so sweaty! Ha! She was working hard to find those eggs :)