Feeding
Thomas ate 80% of a Ritz cracker the other day. For a boy that won't swallow food, this is a HUGE deal. For the past couple months I have noticed him showing more interest in foods. He will spend more time investigating food by smelling it, tasting it, or touching it.
Before, if you gave him some food he would cautiously taste it, and then throw it. Now it's a much longer process. Now even if he is not initially interested I can usually get him to smell a food item and allow me to tap it to his lips and then take a taste. If you this process sounds excruciatingly slow you are correct. But if it gets him to eat by mouth it's worth it!
He has also begun drinking out of a sippy cup. And he's enjoying it! He has taken sips out of a sippy cup since last summer but now he is really taking actual drinks. When he came out of anesthesia from his recent eye exam he actually chose to drink from a sippy cup upon waking! I couldn't believe it. I keep his cup filled with icy cold water or watered down juice. I must have felt good after waking up from his exam.
To be released after a procedure you have to drink 4 ounces of liquids and keep them down. Thomas taking anything by mouth at a time like that would have been unthinkable even four months ago.
After buying every sippy cup out there, he decided on the cheap take and toss cups! |
We are really working on getting him to take a bigger volume of his liquids by mouth. I hope that we can work up to four ounces by mouth by the end of the summer. Maybe the summer heat will inspire him to keep enjoying those cold drinks!
Walking
Yes, Thomas walked the other day. A real walk of about four steps and he keeps getting better. He has gotten up to eight steps at a time. Thomas' doctors and therapists had expected him to be walking at two years of age. I am happy to have him beating expectations once again! He is recently 20 months old.
I don't know if you can imagine the bravery it must take to walk when you can't see. It is estimated that Thomas' vision may be like what we see through a very foggy bathroom mirror after a shower. Can you imagine boldly stepping into that world?
Here's the proof!
Eyes
Thomas' eye pressure is finally in a better range. They want his eye pressure to be in the teens or early 20s. The pressure had been as high as the 50s recently. During last weeks evaluation his eye pressure ranged from 26-31. They also found that the pressure was up in his left eye for the first time.
Tom after Glaucoma surgery #3 |
We started back on his glaucoma eye drops (Cosopt now in both eye and Xalatan only in the right) to bring the pressure down a bit more. Since starting the drops in his left eye we are noticing less eye rubbing. He had really started to rub and occasionally poke at that eye. The high pressure must have been bothering him. I'm so glad that he is finding some relief!
And now that his eye has healed enough since the surgery 2 weeks ago they were able to put his contacts back in. I hate having his contacts out. He keeps his eyes open so much more when he has his contacts in. They really help him.
As you can see we have had progress all around! I'm so glad to have happy news to share.
Yay Tommy!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if you are aware of how much this sweet little boy has stolen the hearts of all the designers at PerLora Leather. We all get so excited when Ashley comes back from spending an afternoon with you and Tom and she has new pictures to share. I hope you know how truly inspiring you are to us all and how very obvious it is that Tommy is as lucky to have you as you are to have him. Wishing Thomas Marshall continued health and happiness.
ReplyDeleteAllison Waynik
Pretty soon Tom will be walking to the fridge to get his own food..
ReplyDeleteKevin and Barb