Update on Matt 2011-10-20
Posted by Rachel
Thanks to all who have been praying for Matt. He is doing well, though we still have some obstacles to overcome. The big issue right now is his feedings. He started to try to bottle feed, but he was choking on the milk and it was squirting out of his nose. They had Matt go for what is called a cookie swallow, which is also called a barium swallow. They then watched the barium to see if the milk went to his belly or anywhere else. They found that Matt was aspirating, which means milk was getting into his lungs. This is potentially very dangerous as it can lead to pneumonia. Since this was the result of the cookie swallow, Matt can no longer have milk by mouth via a bottle.
Matt will now have his feeds by a feeding tube that goes through his mouth. They are also going to extend the feeding to be over an hour instead of a quick feed. This will hopefully help him not to spit up as much. They were concerned that if he is spitting up he would also aspirate that. So far today when we left, he had 2 feeds at 12 and 3 that were 20mL by feeding tube and each feed was over an hour. He did really well with these feeds and wasn’t spitting up. They also have him on Prevacid to help with any reflux issues he may have that could cause him to spit up. When we left tonight, since he did so well with his other feeds, they are upping his feeds to be 25mL every 3 hours. Until he gets his feeds back up to where they need to be he will also be on IV fluids to make sure he stays hydrated.
After he has his stents removed next Friday they will have another cookie swallow performed to re-evaluate his feeding ability. Due to this Matt will definitely be in the NICU for at least another 2 weeks as they need to wait for the stents to be removed, perform the cookie swallow, and then watch his feedings for at least a week to make sure he is eating well and continuing to gain weight.
Also, we got the results of the MRI and EEG the other day and they both came back normal. So far the only issue with Matt was his nose and now his feeding, which may be due to the stents in his nose. We will see after the stents are removed.
Daddy got to hold Matt for the first time today. Matt was very happy with this and so was Daddy.
I have heard that when children are sick at a young age it helps them build character…or else maybe it’s that he’ll grow up to be a character! Hang in there, things are improving and many, many people are praying for you.