Kids Eat Clinic

Yesterday, Ethan's teacher accompanied me and Ethan to his feeding clinic appointment at 4pm. We didn't leave until after 6pm. We covered lots of ground. Here's how it went down...

Ethan refused to sit in the regular chair, so he had to then sit in the modified seat with tray. When it came time to eat, he pushed the food away and also tried to grab the plate and throw it. He also immediately went hand first into the tastefully crafted butterscotch pudding and proceeded to- finger by finger- remove said pudding into his mouth. Mary and I had hoped that maybe he would showoff and begin to self-feed again...nope. There will not be any self-feeding any time soon, unless he decides to.

The ear tubes have really thrown him for a loop. It has affected his senses as a whole, his equilibrium, his swallowing, his desire to self-feed...but by golly, there isn't any fluid in there! Yes, I am rolling my eyes because if it's not one thing, it's another. We have to start all over with self-feeding. Oh well- we move forward.

Ethan is continuing to lose weight. It has been concerning me for a while, but for the first time, it is concerning to a doctor too! Over a year and half ago, Ethan weighed 42 pounds. His BMI was even a tad high for his age and height, so we cut back on extra calories like the Carnation Instant Breakfast (CIB) that we put in his milk for that little extra. Six months ago, he was 35 pounds. He was holding steady at 36 pounds the past few months until recently. Yesterday, he was 33 pounds! When people see him after not seeing him for a while, the first comment is "Oh my, look how much he's grown!!!". Well, we thought that he was just growing taller without gaining the weight because until a few weeks ago, he was walking a significant amount in his walker. Well, he has grown a centimeter in six months- ONE CENTIMETER! There is something not right about that. So, we are going to recheck his thyroid. His labs have also been ordered to check everything- kidneys, liver, sodium, proteins...The blood test should be able to determine how he is absorbing his nutrients. I mean, Ethan eats. It may be a struggle and I may have a handful of my own hair pulled out afterwards, but he does eat. Keep you posted on that...

So now, we get to give a serving of "Yummy Pudding" and "Yummy Oatmeal" to Ethan everyday. The pudding basically consists of a pudding packet with whole milk, CIB, oil, and something else. The oatmeal is just an instant oatmeal packet made with half and half instead of water. Ok, that's like an extra 400 calories per day!

Now, the good news! Ethan has been on a waiting list for Vital Stim Therapy. A very long waiting list. Well, he's in! We begin therapy on June 2nd. Ethan will HATE it. It will be TOUGH. It is not guaranteed to work. But, it COULD work. We HAVE to try. It is very intense- hour and a half sessions, three times per week for about 5 weeks. Fun times- wish us luck!

That's how those 2 hours+ went down. Ethan hated me afterwards. Isn't it great being Mommy?!?!?! :-)