Doctor Visits

Today was a big day for us. We had 2 specialist visits. In the morning we had to be at the Hospital at 8am for his swallow test. We did find out that Kaden is aspirating as he drinks thin liquids into his lungs. We are now going to thicken his liquids with rice cereal and then return in 3 months to have another swallow test done. From what we understood from today basically his muscles are not developed for swallowing and he struggles with thin liquids. He does better with thicker liquids. This is what has been causing his coughing during drinking and the gurgly sound we hear later. We also found out that this can cause respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Kaden has had both of these multiple times in Russia. We are so thankful to have an answer to what is going on. I swear he is already feeling better b/c today he was so happy and played so hard for a long time. He ran around like I've never seen before.

Our second appointment was with a cardiologist. We had not discussed much on the blog about this but now we are willing to share due to we hadn't shared much with our family till recently b/c we did not want to worry anyone until we had answers. On Kaden's medical report the only thing that showed up at the MOE was actually the fact that he had a "Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)", basically this is where there is a small opening in the heart. This had been seen on Kaden actually in an ultrasound on the birth mother. We wanted to get this checked out, however all doctors before this have not heard any issues with his heart. A PFO is actually common to see in an ultrasound when the baby is in the uterus. This normally doesn't close on infants till the first few months of life up to 2 years of age. The cardiologists today said he hears no issues with Kaden's heart. He is very healthy! We were so happy to hear this.

Thanks for all your prayers! We have 1 more specialist this week, the ophthalmologist for his gunky eye! We are just so thankful to be getting answers to our concerns and all have been easy fixes!