In-patient therapy

For some time now, Our Children's House (Truman's therapy clinic) has hinted that Truman should go through their in-patient feeding therapy. They are no longer hinting. Today, they told Ben we should really think hard about the process because now it's not just about feeding anymore. Truman's most recent occupational therapy evaluation shows him falling further behind in occupational, motor, and sensory skills, not regressing, just falling further off the developmental milestones for his adjusted age. (We're not even looking at actual age yet). Speech has been a problem for some time now, and all indications are that it is not just a speech delay, but a greater problem. They are recommending that we move into our Children's House for a month for intensive therapy in all three areas.

Truman also had a weight check today before his flu shot. Over the last six weeks, he has gained approximately 8.5 ounces to reach 19 lbs, 11 ounces. For Truman, that's not so bad, but considering that he had just had a 6-ounce bottle and has been taking reflux meds, meds for stomach motility, and a super-rich calorie supplement since the last check, it's not so good in the broader scheme of things either, particularly considering it's a slower rate of gain than the previous month. The one consolation I can think of is that this is the first full weight period without expressed breast milk, so maybe that added weight I put on to add fat to my breast milk was worth it.

Truman has an appointment tomorrow with the pediatric GI specialist. We will talk with him about in-patient therapy and the possibility of endoscopy and other tests he suggested last time if we have seen dramatic improvement since our mid-September appointment. I'm sure he'll raise the feeding tube possibility again, too, which we definitely don't want to do without first considering inpatient therapy. The reasons we are so opposed to a feeding tube are many (1) it's major surgery; (2) many children come to rely on them as a crutch; (3) Truman already often refuses to eat, so why take hunger out of the equation; and (4) Truman is such a crazy-busy, uber-mobile kid that we don't think it will work because he'll be messing with it, pulling it out, etc.

We really don't want to uproot Truman and leave our home for a month, but we don't want to have not done all that we can to help Truman grow physically, cognitively, and developmentally.