Our week had started out simply enough. We enjoyed Easter, but all the while were mindful of the follow-up appointment in Baltimore this week. Doctors appointments always make me a bit anxious, probably because they usually yield more bad news than good. However, going into this one I really felt that the boys have been doing really well overall. What could they possibly say?....Well then again doctors always seem to find something to say :)
So off we headed to Baltimore. The boys are getting used to the eight hour trip and were amazing sports along the way. I was even able to turn them on to some sweet treats...Skittles! Whenever we stopped at a rest stop I would run in and grab some Skittles. I would spend the next 20 minutes doling them out one-by-one. The boys have really improved in their chewing ability. They were able to manage them without really any difficulty...something that simply wouldn't have been possible prior to feeding clinic. They are pretty awesome!
At the clinic, the therapists awarded Dom and Zac the Gold Star for keeping up the good work. Usually, once the kids return home they regress a bit. It's somewhat typical, but not something that you want to see happen if you can prevent it. For Dom and Zac that wasn't the case. Instead of regressing, Dom and Zac made progress! We still have quite a bit of work to do, but we're getting there day by day. I guess I should also respond to the #1 question everyone has been asking since it was a big topic of conversation while we were with the doctor, "When are the boys getting their tubes out?!?" Well, since the boys have had a long history of feeding disorders they are recommending that we keep it in at least one year from the last time it was used. So that means that they aren't coming out any time soon. But, I'll take it. It's a good precautionary measure. The last thing we would ever want to do is take them out prematurely and be faced with the possibility that they may need them and have to re-do the surgery to have it reinserted. We can live with the tubes (as long as we're not using them!) haha!
We tried to make the doctors appointment a bit of a vacation. We went swimming at the hotel pool and had a chance to visit with some of our favorite hospital nurses and friends. However, it was bittersweet to know that we had returned to our "normal lives" while other people were still there. We are so lucky that the boys have done so well and that our stay was relatively short.
We ended our week with a quick shopping trip to IKEA. I had been invited to go up with a friend who loves my kids almost as much as I do. When we had finished our shopping I was famished and it was time for Dom and Zac to eat. However, we really needed to hit the road. So we grabbed a few hotdogs and started loading up the car with our goods. I gave Dom and Zac each a bite of hotdog and then placed them down in the middle of them both (in Jay's carseat). Slowly they started taking bites, and then quickly they were each gobbling up their entire hotdog. We looked at each other with mouths dropped open and that's when she said it. "I've gone out to dinner with you guys, and they have never devoured their food like that. That is amazing." I have to say it made me smile, both inside and outside, to have someone else see how well the boys are doing. They are pretty awesome! Now if only I could get them to eat some chocolate.... we are drowning in a sea of Easter candy. Perhaps we can work on that next week!
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