7 months is a long time not to blog...

We are going to jump right back in with some good news. The last 7 months have been challenging. There's really no other way to put it. We've been blessed immensely and have been able to juggle everything, but it's been hard. Kyle is not progressing with his oral eating. We thought we were making some progess because I could get him to eat about 40 calories a day. Then, under the direction of his doctors, we messed around with some medications. That sent all of our progress, including 3 glorious, barf-free months, out the window. We've spent the past six weeks trying to get his system calmed down.

During this time, I noticed some staining on Kyle's teeth and became concerned. I made an appointment with a pediatric dentist. After I gave his medical history and explained about his intense oral aversion, she did a quick check in his mouth and decided she should refer us up to the OHSU dental school for treatment. She was concerned about enamel erosion and that Kyle might need caps on his teeth to protect them from his vomit. Today, we drove to his appointment (I would be happy if we never had to go up to the OHSU campus again!), and had my best doctor's appointment in months!

Yes, he has staining. Much more than a typical child his age. But, they prodded in his mouth and declared no cavities and no erosion--which means no general anesthesia to undergo dental treatments. Oh happy day!

As far as his feeding goes, we are increasing his therapy from monthly visits to weekly. I love his therapist and am willing to make the long drive to work with her. Not that there are any closer food therapists, but we could always go up to the OHSU feeding clinic. Have I mentioned I would be happy never to go back? Although, their feeding specialist is pretty awesome too. We really hope that increasing therapy will help us see some improvement. Kyle seems to be afraid to swallow. When he gets food in his mouth, he starts gagging to try to remove it. Hopefully, as we are better able to communicate with him, we will be able to ease his fears.

 This picture is from one of the first times he put something in his own mouth. It was so momentous that Jeremy and I both had to take pictures of it.