6.29.10 - Evening edition

Liam had two appointments today - The Occupational/Speech Therapist (O/ST) at 9 am and then to Dr. Verma (cardiologist) at 3 pm.

First with the O/ST meeting:
I finally got Liam re-enrolled with therapy for his feeding issues, so the consultation interview and assessment was this morning. My dad oversaw the meeting while I was at work. The O/ST is the same therapist we have had before, so I felt quite comfortable letting her work on Liam while my dad was here without me. Plus we had a nice long discussion on Sunday about what my vision and plans were for Liam as far as therapy goes...I told her about the issues we have been having with Liam's congestion during and after feedings, and she seemed concerned too. It felt good to have a professional validate what I was thinking and how hesitant I am to proceed with oral feedings. She agreed that we should not do any oral feeds until we get another swallow study done later in the summer. We both agreed that Liam needs to take time to heal his airway and overall in general before we attempt to start oral feeds again. Just like everything with Liam, that's how he likes it, slow and steady. Still no answers as to what is causing the congestion, but at least we will have the O/ST overseeing him a couple times a week to help keep an eye on things.

And now for the appointment with Dr. Verma:
His heart looks great - AMEN! Dr. Verma is very happy with Liam's heart right now. He did say that the left pulmonary artery (going to the lungs) is narrowed more than the right and is "flowing faster than the right side", but he said it is not an immediate concern and will probably just put a stint in during his next valve replacement surgery in a few years. Liam's O2 sats were 98, which is amazing (Of course, this was after I got him to stop crying though) and we are also able to cut down on one of the meds Liam is on, lasix, to once per day instead of twice. We are also less than a week away from completely weaning him off the narcotics! YAY! I did speak with Dr. Verma about the congestion issue with feeds, and he recommended we just keep an eye on it for now and possibly have the ENT do a re-check in a month or so to make sure his airway has healed up ok. Other than that, this follow-up couldn't have been better!

Liam is sleeping better and better each night. In fact, I have not had to go into his room other than to give him meds, since I took over night duty this past weekend. We are SO blessed to have such a good little sleeper. That was actually one of my fears for the side effects of this surgery is that he would never sleep through the night again...so thankful that is not the case! I think God knows sleep issues are way more than I can handle...as I myself require a bit more than the usual adult to function properly...or politely ;0).

That's all for tonight folks. All my talk about sleep is making me want to do just that...Goodnight!