Dear all,
I was in charge of the finger feeding today, and Eliza had another successful swallowing attempt: 6 ml. with strong, nutritive sucks and without choking or getting upset at all. The speech and occupational therapists are very excited by this progress. Hopefully, Eliza will be ready for a swallow study before she leaves the hospital; this involves swallowing barium while under x-ray to make sure she's not silently aspirating what she's drinking. This study could also be done on an outpatient basis if she's not ready before she leaves, which is still on track to happen soon,
hopefully around the end of next week.
Eliza is currently having another EEG to see if anything has changed in her brain activity. This will run all night. I just spoke to Sam, who is at the hospital, and he said it looks about the same as before: nothing that looks like a seizure, but still spiky, abnormal waves. As usual, we'll have to wait for the official report until tomorrow, but Sam's read tends to be pretty reliable. Eliza also had her normal newborn hearing screen today; one ear passed, and one ear failed, so she'll need to have a follow-up test, again maybe before she leaves the hospital or maybe on an outpatient basis.
That's all the news for tonight...
Love,
Daniele, Sam, Luke, Eliza
