Latest on Liam

Hi everyone! I wanted to give you all a very brief update. We started therapy at Good Shepard Rehab a few weeks ago doing VitalStim therapy three days a week for Liam's dysphagia. Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday we take Liam's breakfast and see a speech therapist who administers the therapy. Liam is doing awesome! He helps the girls "clean" his skin with the prep pad and even puts his head all the way back so they can put the "stickers" on his throat. I wanted to take pictures so you all could see what this looks like but unfortunately Good Shepard does not allow any picture taking. Liam is so brave, there are times the stim is uncomfortable and he gives me a sad face and starts whining and pulling at the stickers...it is so hard for me to watch and I just want to cry, but over time I have realized that putting some kid music on pandora really helps distract him. Each day, the intensity of the stim treatments are increased, and eventually we hope to find Liam's therapeutic level. When the stim treatment is administered we give Liam spoonfuls of water for him to practice swallowing. We often hear the familiar "gurgles" when the liquid does not go down the correct way. When we identify this, we try to get Liam to cough, to clear or move the liquid from where ever it is. Liam has done really well with all of this, and he is starting to clear his throat on his own!  We don't know how long the treatments will last at this time. What we do know is that at some point in the future Liam will have another swallow study to tell us if things have improved, but the therapists feel it will be a while longer until this happens. Sorry if this isn't the best update but words are starting to go blurry...until next time I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and is enjoying lots of candy! Love to all!