Thursday, July 8

Chemo Round 3, Day 6

Today Collin made a little more progress with communication. During lunch, I asked him if he wanted more while signing the word "more." The sign takes two hands, which is challenging for Collin. He watched me repeat the sign a few times, and then picked up both of his hands like he was going to try. I helped him a little, and then he tried to do it on his own. Then a little later, he signed "all done," and I said "you're all done?" He then tried verbally saying "all done." I repeated it, and then he did, and we did this a few times. It was fun!

When we left the hospital, Collin was eating a pureed diet. He has progressed a bit since being at home, and can manage tiny pieces of food that he can pick up himself and chew. The pieces I give him are small enough that even if he doesn't chew them all the way, he won't choke on them, and I check his mouth between bites to make sure he's not pocketing any food in his cheek. He is doing well, and is very pleased to be feeding himself. Today he kept taking the spoon from my hand and putting it into his mouth. I also tried something different for feeding him liquids. He has been either sipping liquids from a spoon, or drinking them out of a sippy cup with no valve, as he is still not able to suck strongly enough to get the liquid past the valve; I have also tried the straw cup that used to be his favorite, but it is also too difficult for him. The problem is that both methods are messy, and neither one he can do himself; with no valve in the sippy cup, he gets way too much at a time if he tries himself, and ends up gagging. It also makes it very difficult to give him a drink if we are out. So, since his speech therapist said in her hospital discharge summary that his oral motor skills are that of a 6-8 month old, I decided to try offering a bottle to see if he could safely feed himself liquid from it. I figured he wouldn't have to suck as hard, and the liquid wouldn't come at him all at once. At first he chewed on it, but then he started sucking and swallowing, so it seemed to work. He was able to safely feed himself, which made him happy; and I thought that at least he could work on improving his suck so that he could progress to a sippy cup, as a 6-8 month old would. The ironic thing is that it is the first time either of my kids drank from a bottle! I just hope that I haven't done something that will set him back or be counterproductive in any way; hopefully when we see our speech therapist in the hospital next week, she will approve!