Swallow study

Matt's swallow study was this morning. All in all, it went better than expected. Phew!

Matt tolerated not having anything to eat or drink for the 2 hours prior to his study. When the time came to consume, he consumed! That was the goal, as they mix a "yummy" barium beverage for him to drink, and watch via x-ray as it makes its way down his throat.

Though we have to wait for the official read from a doctor, there was a speech therapist present at the study. She told Nate that when Matt drinks thin liquids such as water and milk, the muscles and nerves in his neck aren't responding quick enough to stop the flow of fluid into his vocal cords. Thankfully, his nerves are reacting quick enough so that he isn't getting any fluid into his lungs. Also, even more thankfully, this is something that Matt will grow out of. The nerves in his throat just need to develop further, and that happens with time.

When Matt drinks thicker liquids, he does not have this issue. So in the mean time, in an effort to stop him from sounding like Darth Vader, we are going to be thickening his liquids with the same thickener that we use for Will. We certainly have a lot of it!

It is good to know what is going on, and especially to know that although it sounds bad, what Matt has is not serious. So tomorrow we'll start thickening liquids and see what happens. Not sure what I'll do when I can't figure out where Matt is in the house, simply by listening for the direction of his noisy breathing.