This morning was Ella's swallow study at Edward Hospital.
She was a champ, as usual :) She had to fast before the test, and had hardly eaten anything yesterday, so she was good and hungry when it was time to eat for the x-ray!
Luckily, her swallow function is great! She shows no signs of aspirating.
So the question still remains as to why she doesn't eat very much.
It could be that she is fatiguing while she eats, however, she usually doesn't take more than a bite or two (if that) when we sit down for a meal.
Luckily she drinks Pediasure, which helps to get extra calories in her body. Since we started giving it to her back in October, she has maintained her weight percentile (below the 3rd percentile, but she's been stable there). Prior to the Pediasure, she had dropped from the 50th percentile down to the 3rd in 6 months.
Dr. Kuntz said that her concern with Ella not eating much is that if she gets sick and won't eat or drink at all (including the Pediasure), it could be very dangerous. She would get incredibly weak and it would be hard for her to recover. Her dietician put it well that she would take two steps back and one step forward while she tried to recover from an illness (even a simple cold).
So after Ella's sleep study is complete (date TBD), we will be going back to see Dr. Kuntz to discuss the results of both tests and our options.
This Wednesday (1.25.12) Ella has the consultation for her sleep study at Central DuPage Hospital. We will schedule the actual study at that appointment.
