We're Here

Nathan started at feeding clinic yesterday. He was really upset when I left him in the playroom, he wanted to know why I wasn't staying with him all day. He was worried about where I was going to be all day, he was upset that I wasn't going to be right with him. His first meal with his feeder wasn't great, he had to eat 10 bites each of water, yogurt and pureed banana. The water was no problem, the yogurt went OK but the banana made him fall apart. He didn't want to eat, he didn't even want to hear the word banana. He flat out refused one bite and threw-up another one. So he only got 8 bites of banana and of those bites he seriously gagged on each of them. I asked the Dr if that was normal and she said it was if the child was trying not to swallow it, she didn't seem worried.

His second meal went mostly the same way. He was fed the same three things and same amount as the first meal. He didn't throw up at all with this meal and he didn't refuse any bites so that was an improvement. There was the same amount of gagging. The third meal at clinic went a little better than the first two meals. There seemed to be less gagging than there had been before and he cried less. But it was the end of the day and he was exhausted, so he was ready to be done.

I had to feed him at the hotel, but first I had promised him swimming in the hotel pool. So we got back to the hotel and went swimming for a little while. Swimming is his reward for participating in therapy all day. The therapy is exhausting for him, between his 4 meals (yesterday there was only 3) and all his other therapies he was tired. So by 6pm he was asking when it was going to be time for bed! So he went to bed early last night.

Today has been a little better. We set our goals with the team this morning. His main goal is to eat 3ozs at each of his 4 meals per day. Another goal is to take 1-2ozs of pediasure or milk per day. Those two things would allow us to decrease his tube feeds by 25% - a great goal! Only time will tell but for now, we're happy.

In other news it's like a third world country down here in NJ. The lines for gas are  unreal and I'm not sure which day I'm supposed to be allowed to get gas. It's an odd-even thing and I'm pretty sure that today is my gas day but I'm still at 1/2 tank and I'm not sitting in line for an hour for 1/2 tank of gas. Hopefully my 1/2 tank will last until I'm in NY on Friday so I'm allowed to get gas on my way home!