So after months of battling choking, gagging, and vomiting with solid foods, we finally got Jacob into the hospital for an esophagram today. An esophagram, or swallow study is an x-ray exam of the esophagus and the first part of the stomach where they watch him swallow a chalky liquid that shows up on x-ray. Basically they discovered that the little flap that is supposed to close his windpipe when he swallows doesnt work 100% correctly, and he aspirates a small amount of liquid when he drinks milk or water. Because he has probably had this problem his entire life, he taught himself a more comfortable way of swallowing where he holds liquid in the back of his throat and then swallows it in large gulps. This works alright for liquid, but when he tries to do this with chunkier solid food, he ends up choking on it, which is where the vomiting comes in. The doctor was very surprised that he hasnt been perpetually in and out of the hospital his entire life with upper respiratory problems, since hes basically been drowning himself and most likely irritating his lungs with small amounts of liquid every time he drinks. So for now, we have to avoid thin foods, such as watermelon, oranges, ice, soups, etc, and we have to thicken water and formula with a thickening gel (since the thicker consistency doesnt make him aspirate) so that he re-learns how to swallow the correct way, which is to swallow in smaller portions, and eventually he should be able to swallow chunky foods without gagging, choking, and vomiting.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:33:28 +0000
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