Sophia's Barium Swallow Study

While waiting for her test, John & Sophie racing the car across the table

This morning Sophie had her third modified barium swallow study at Cardon Children's Medical Center. The test is done in one of the radiology suite at the hospital with a radiologist, a speech-language pathologist, a radiology technician, and John and I. Typically the child is seated in a special chair that is placed next to the radiographic equipment that takes the pictures as she swallows, but today our special little girl got to sit on Daddy's lap after a very vocal protest and unwillingness to drink in the "special chair". They gave Sophie liquid that has been mixed with barium (and chocolate syrup, yum) to make it show up on the x-ray monitor.  It is really interesting to see the x-ray video of her drinking.

Enough about the test - to the results:

To recap her two previous studies-

Her first Barium Swallow test was in August 2010 and showed she was silently aspirating when she drank or ate thin, half-nectar, and even sometimes nectar consistency liquids and solids. She had some penetration of the airway, but did not aspirate with honey consistency. 

Her second Barium Swallow test was done in November 2010 and showed she had a small improvement in her swallow but still silently aspirated with thin and half-nectar consistencies. She didn't have as much penetration with the nectar consistency as the first test. 

I had hoped and really believed we would walk away from the test today knowing she no longer has a swallow defect. I was mistaken. Despite my disappointment there is good news in the results. Today she had penetration of the vocal cords (airways) with the half nectar and full nectar consistencies but no aspiration. Their recommendation now is to thicken her liquids to half-nectar instead of full nectar. 

I think I was surprised by the results today because John and I had stopped thickening her liquids about 1-2 months ago because we found she would drink more water and milk when they weren't thickened. She hasn't regressed in her eating or drinking since then which would be expected if she was still having problems. 

Well, I thank the Lord for the small improvement in the test results but really for the great improvement she has made in her eating and drinking over the last 8 months.