puppet fun and swallow study

Friday we went to BMC for Eve's swallow study. We had tried to prep her by telling her that there would be no "owies" and that all she had to so was sit there so the nurses could take pictures of her eating. Yeah. That didn't really help. Eve's speech therapist also came along to watch the procedure. (I was so grateful for this, btw. I never know if I ask the right questions and I don't know what to look for. Having a specialist along is a wonderful thing.) Pam brought some puppets with her. They weren't appreciated by Eve at the hospital, but you can see from the video below that they were appreciated at home.

Anyhow, the experience was pretty frustrating. We showed up and it just wasn't the right kind of swallow study. They took Eve into the Xray room (and of course she is freaking out) and really just aren't prepared for her. They seemed a little perplexed about what to do with this kid who can't stand or sit on her own. Not to mention the fact that they wanted her to lay down on the table and drink the barium solution. Ha. Like that's going to happen. I think what they wanted was to watch her drink the barium and then check to see if her stomach emptied. The finally got a chair from another room and sat Eve on my lap. She managed a few sips in between sobs and the radiologist watched it go down and told us she didn't aspirate. What we should have had done was a swallow study with a speech pathologist who would watch Eve eat a variety of foods of different consistencies using a live Xray video (rather than static images). This is what was done in GA. It was pretty much a waste of our time (and Pam's). I left feeling disappointed and angry at myself for assuming that the right test would be ordered and not double checking.

This afternoon I needed to call the pediatrician about something else, and when I talked to the nurse, I mentioned that the procedure wasn't really what we had hoped for. The doctor called me after dinner. When I asked her how she was, she said, "Irritated!" She told me that she had ordered the swallow study to be done with a therapist and the live video and is irritated that the wrong kind was performed. So, on Monday she will be sure to get the right type of study ordered (which she still wants to be done at BMC).