More Changes

More Changes

I recently wrote about the changes we are seeing in Waverly's mobility and movement around the apartment. This week, we have seen a lot of changes in her ability to swallow. During lunch today she choked twice. Choking so scary that I had to pound her back to clear her airway. We have adjusted her diet to soft foods and dissolvable solids, but I gave her a few blueberries with lunch. She loves blueberries, however she no longer chews them and just tried to swallow them whole. Waverly has always found such joy in food. She loves to eat. I hate having to adjust her diet once again and remove some favorite foods. Her blueberry intake will just have to be mashed into smoothies.

Comments

Carrie said…

Just a thought, could you put some food in a mesh feeder? I have used this in the past for students with choking issues. It is sold in the baby aisle of most grocery stores, target, etc. You can put most any food in it and she could suck or chew on it. Most kids get a lot of food through the tiny holes but it eliminates the choking risk.

July 14, 2011 at 9:51 PM

Anonymous said…

I worked in a retirement community for a stint. Try thinking of her eating challanges as more of a challenge for you instead. Make a purreed pasta and then ad the sauce to still make it look like spaghetti with sauce. Use those favorite blueberries and put them in a pureed dessert or smoothie like you said. There is a lot that can be done with purees.

July 15, 2011 at 9:41 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.