Bin's Doctor Appointment Updates

Well, we have been busy the past few weeks with Doctor appointments, so I figured I better keep everyone up to date with all the details. A while back I told you Bin had been choking on liquids so we had to take him to the GI and Neuro Doctor to try and figure out what is going on. They both wanted Bin to have a swallow test and a MRI.
The swallow test is where he has to drink fluids of all different consistencies with barium in it while all along being x-rayed to show if the fluid is going down his esophagus ( which is the correct pathway for ingested food/fluid) instead of his trachea which in turn goes to his lungs, causing him to aspirate (choke). They also wanted him to have a MRI to make sure his shunt is not malfunctioning and to check his Chiari Malformation. Almost 90 % of all children born with Spina Bifida have this malformation but very few have serious signs and symptoms from it. One of the signs is choking but since Bin's choking is very infrequent and not severe I was not to worried that it could be from his Chiari, but of course that is always in the back of my mind.
The MRI turned out basically normal. Bin's shunt is working fine and Dr. Honeycutt (neuro) said that his Chiari is so minimal that he could almost say that it is non-existent. WOW! That is grrrrreat news. He said he was very worried when it came time to read the results because he was fearing the worst. He was very surprised that neither the shunt nor the Chiari was the problem. He was very impressed that Bin is walking so well by himself. Bin walked across the room and gave him a hug and a high five! :)
However, the swallow test did not come back as we had hoped. He in fact is having swallowing issues. First of all, when he takes a drink of anything he takes in an extremely large amount at once. There is no way to decrease that amount unless you sit by his side and squeeze a straw for every little sip he takes to monitor the amount. Now, if anyone can do that with a 2 year old I would be very impressed. Secondly, when he swallows some of the fluid is going down his trachea. It is not going all the way to his lungs, thankfully!!! The doctor is worried that over time the nerves/muscles there will finally decrease in sensitivity and he will eventually start to completely aspirate, which would be very bad. So, now we have to thicken all of his fluids. Everything he drinks has to be the consistency of honey and let me tell you it has been very difficult to get this sweet boy to drink anything now! We have been trying all kinds of new drinks, smoothies and yogurt drinks. He is slowly getting better but he no longer drinks plain water because of this so we are now having to add juices to his water. I don't know why he refuses water now, I guess the thickener we have to add to it causes him to refuse it. We will go back in 6 months for another swallow test to see if the muscles have become stronger, swallowing the thicker liquids, and hopefully we will get to change back to a thinner consistency.
Bin also started Physical Therapy at Cook's and we are so impressed with it. His therapists name is Becca and she works great with him. She says he is extremely strong and can't believe he is walking all by himself. He was no where close to that just 2 months ago which is when we went for his initial evaluation with her. From now on Bin will go every 2 weeks. She is also going to look into some devices to help him turn his left foot in when he walks. We are very excited about that!
Other than that we have been having a fun filled summer and Bin and Oaxie are getting bigger and bigger every day. They are talking non-stop and sometimes using full sentences. They are just so smart!:) They totally crack us up every day. We love it!!!