It seems like we’ve been forever waiting for the follow-up trip to Seattle. Waiting to do another swallow study, waiting to trial food, waiting to see if they can help with the reflux, etc.
But the wait is over! We’re headed down there to hopefully get some more answers! Since we saw a pulmonologist up here in the meantime, he suggested an additional scope procedure in addition to the ones Seattle was already planning. Trying really hard not to stress about it. Clearly I should take a page out of Natalie’s book as she is not the least bit stressed out!
This girl seems very interested in food these days. Obviously she can’t have any yet, but that doesn’t keep her from trying to steal it from you!
She fussed a little bit right as we were taking off, but then her and her dad fell asleep for their plan ride nap. So cute!
We had to check in with the team on Monday morning, but it was just a quick appointment to give updates on how she has been and for them to walk through the procedure plan for Wednesday. Then we had a whole afternoon with nothing to do - might as well go soak up the sunshine and warmth!
She looks pretty entranced with her dada in this photo, huh?
Wonder if she would be so entranced if she knew he was walking her into Lake Union?? ;)
Tuesday we had nothing to do, so our friends suggested a few daytrip options. But first, I wanted to introduce Matt to the donut store down the street from their house that I took Thomas to a few years ago. I went up to get the coffees and when I came back there was a bite taken out of my donut. The size of the bite led me to expect one of my companions more than the other…
Not that she wouldn’t have… I gave her a tiny piece of icing and she sucked it in approvingly! :)
We drove to the north and took one of the less crowded ferries across the sound. She seemed pretty excited about her first ferry ride! (Even if it was a bit windy!)
Chilling in the car away from the breeze. She’s more interested in the people walking by the car than her momma. But I like this photo (even though it was horrible in color) because it shows her ridiculously long lashes. Still soooo long and full - I’m jealous!
After another bit of driving, we finally made it to our destination - Fort Casey and the cliff-side gun batteries that used to defend the entrance to Puget Sound. The views were pretty awesome and the day was just ridiculously gorgeous. And learning about the history of the gun batteries was pretty fun!
Of course, Matt decided to get a bit more up & close to the battery than I did… ;)
Even homegirl seemed to appreciate the adventure and the fresh air! It was by far the most time she has spent in the car and she didn’t complain at all! She must like hanging out with us. :)
Of course, we weren’t just here for fun, so Wednesday morning was time to head back to the hospital. Due to a mix-up, we almost missed our scheduled time, but the staff was thankfully very forgiving. They rushed her through pre-op without actually rushing and made sure they had all of her information right before wheeling her back to the procedure room.
I could have done without the extra stress added to the morning. But I will be forever grateful for our friend running out a coffee to me as we were panic packing the car to get there. You are the best, Katie!
The procedures all went great and she handled it like a champ! She was a bit fussy when she first came out of anesthesia, but otherwise it was no big deal. She had to stay overnight to make sure there were no side effects from the anesthesia - it was so odd being in the hospital with a completely healthy baby!
The scope showed no abnormalities that would cause her any issues with eating or breathing. They did notice her trachea was slightly compressed and managed to squeeze her in for a CT scan to make sure it was a benign cause and not a artery compressing it. The didn’t want to put her under anesthesia again, so the CT team was willing to try doing a speed CT so she could be awake. It went great even though she was yelling at them the whole time (she wasn't a fan of being strapped down…) Thankfully all the arteries are in the right place, so no emergency surgeries were needed!
The ENT recommended trying a gel filler that they generally use to fill laryngeal clefts. She doesn’t have a cleft, but the treatment has shown some improvement in patients with dysphagia. The medical team thought it might help help start trying to eat solids a little more safely and there weren’t really side effects, so we opted to try it. So given all that, she is cleared to try to start eating small amounts of food and we’ll come back to do a follow up with the Aerodigestive Clinic soon.
By the next morning she was clearly ready to bust out of there! I don’t blame her - discharge always takes for-e-ver…!
The next morning, we set off for the airport with enough time to make a few fun stops. I wanted to buy the boys something and figured treats from Trader Joe’s would be as good as any trinket! Plus, look at how awesome she is sitting up in the shopping cart! :)
The flight home was pretty uneventful, with just a little fussiness before crashing and sleeping most of the way (along with her dad). And we made it back in time for another clinic - the Shiner’s orthopedic team was in town for her quarterly appointment. She got some new x-rays she wasn’t terribly excited about doing, but they think her spine still looks nice and straight.
So overall, not a bad week in the medical news department. I’ll take it!