ENT and Infant and Toddlers

I bet I know what you are thinking... you want to see Wyatt's vocal cords! Well you are in luck, because I have a video of what Wyatt's throat looks like from the inside. Do you want to see his vocal cords? Look closely and you will see:) you will first see some mucus and then after a couple of seconds, you will see his cords.

Today was a busy day. It started with an ENT appointment at Hopkins with a new doctor who we like very much. She did a scope of Wyatt's vocal cord (if you follow Wyatt's story, his right vocal cord was paralyzed due to surgery, ECMO, intubations, who knows what!!) We were told that if the nerve was bruised it would most likely return to normal when he is one year old. Our last scope showed partial movement so we were anxious to see what today's scope was like. Well... it showed that the right vocal cord is totally paralyzed. A few doctors looked at it and it showed no movement at all. It's not likely to move because he is now over one year old. Most likely the nerve was severed, probably during ECMO cannulation (the nerve runs down the throat of his ECMO wound)or some trauma. The good news is that the left vocal cord is compensating for the right one. The right one is "stuck" in the middle, so the left one closes the gap. In the past, the gap was not closed, therefore Wyatt could not protect his airway, aspirate which is why he did not get oral feeds. The doctor told us today that the gap closes (which you can see on the video). Listening to Wyatt, his sounds and cries are normal which is a miracle. I remember for weeks in the NICU he was completely silent and we had no idea what the outcome would be. It's neat how God makes two of everything... now we just have to keep the left vocal cord healthy!

We also had a speech assessment today with the Infant and Toddler's program upon my request. Let's rewind to before Thanksgiving... during Wyatt's six month review meeting, we were told that Wyatt's speech is aligned perfectly to a 13 month old child. As much as I would of love to believe this, I know it's not. He can say Ba, Ma, Gru, gub and that's about it. He did say "hot" the other day and he speaks Japanese and French according to our nurse Susan:)) So I asked what data supports this statement and they said it was their opinion, so I requested an assessment. Meanwhile, the next day, we conveniently had an appointment with Wyatt's speech doctor at Hopkins, Dr. LG. Dr. LG wrote a text book and is a world renowned speech pathologist and she agreed with us that Wyatt does not say what a 13 month child should say.

Wyatt's therapists are excellent and I think that they do a good job, I just feel that as Wyatt's parents, we are his only advocates and now is the best time to close the development gap. I feel very strongly, that Wyatt is capable of achieving above the minimum requirement. I think he is very smart and that is why I was being so persistent about speech. So we will see what the results of the assessment are next week. I don't think anything is going to change, because the Infants and Toddler's therapists have their opinions... which is fine... the lesson I have learned in our experience with Wyatt is that the parent's are the child's advocate and that Wyatt is capable of achieving anything. So today, I was nice, but I the Infant and Toddler's program was probably thinking that I am "one of those parents." That's ok... I like the program and I think they do a fine job.