Hose Up The Nose

Matthew has been having feeding issues. We have been attributing the issues to his persistent congestion and subsequent ear infection, but as the ear infection has cleared the issues have remained. At Occupational Therapy on Monday, our therapist, Yvonne, was feeding him as I updated her on the pediatrician’s concerns about his slow weight gain. She asked if we had done a GI study. Actually, that is one of the few tests we haven’t done with Matthew. Her recommendation was that we get an appointment w/a gastroenterologist to check for reflux, since Matthew acts like he might have it when he eats. She also mentioned she’s seen kids w/reflux that has caused persistent congestion and ear infections. So, before we left the building, we made an appointment w/a gastroenterologist for next Tuesday.

A few hours after OT, we had an appointment w/ENT (ear, nose, throat). The ENT looks at Matthew, whose ear infection has cleared, and states that Matthew’s congestion is not in his nose but a little further down and he has a suspicion he knows what is going on but we need to take a better look at Matthew’s voice box. After sticking the camera hose up Matthew’s nose, the ENT declares that there is some evidence of reflux and that is probably the cause of the persistent congestion. We left his office w/a prescription for baby prevacid and a follow up appointment in a month. We are all hopeful that this is the fix… fix the reflux, fix the congestion, fix that particular feeding problem, and fix the slow weight gain.

Other big news-- as we were waiting for the ENT yesterday, Matthew grinned at Darren. So, within the past 3 days, Matthew has begun using non-crying sounds and smiled! We have moved out of what one of our friends kindly calls ‘the parasite stage’. We are now interacting!! Yippee!!

Finally, more big news, our genetic testing results are in. Always in our minds was the fear that if Darren or I had a rearranged chromosome, not only was it passed on to Matthew as a duplication, but it might have been passed on to Alyssa and Jackson as a rearrangement that they might one day pass along to our grandkids either as a rearrangement or duplication. But more good news came this morning—Matthew’s chromosome duplication is de novo, meaning it was a completely random occurrence. Neither Darren nor I have any chromosome abnormalities. Matthew is completely unique…and obviously meant just for us!!