Drinking! - sort of

Today was very busy! Scott started out but walking with help from his bed to the door of his room. That's a big improvement! It is literally 'one step at a time'. Later in the morning Scott had was taken to the fluoroscopy room for his official swallowing test. He sits in this unique chair and is given food and drinks laced with barium to swallow while being x-rayed. I watched all of the x-rays and could see the food going down his throat. Most everything went down the right tube but a small amount of liquid was aspirated into his lungs durning swallows. SO Scott can eat and drink but it is very restricted. He can have one 'level 1' food(pureed, pudding, yogurt etc.) and one thickened liquid 3x/day. The first thing was gingerale that had a powder mixed in to thicken it like runny applesauce. He actually really liked it! He did try orange juice and milk thickened but didn't like those. When I called his nurse tonight she said he was having thickened chocolate milk. I hope that was better! It is a step forward. He still gets almost all of his calories and nutrients from the tube feed but it's closer to normal than yesterday!!! Scott had a regular dialysis run this afternoon too. I keep praying that his kidneys will do enough work but they're not there yet so dialysis it is for now. It will be done 'as needed'. There is no schedule for it right now. I am completely exhausted today. I don't remember signing up for this but I'm still here. I have faith that Scott will recover, come home, feel well and live well. That is what keeps me going. Oh! Thanks to everyone who has sent messages to the hospital for Scott. It is really helpful and encouraging to hear about you and know that you are thinking of us!