7/17/22

 Rie has been coughing more with meals since she was cleared for solid foods by her oral surgeon. So I did a cheap version of a swallow test that the speech pathologists have taught me to look for causes and to make sure there was not a new deficit in her swallow mechanism that would put her at risk for aspiration pneumonia. Thankfully, Rie passed the test. Praise the Lord 🙏.  She ate the entire test-meal without coughing. All I had to do was to remind her to slow down between bites. That should become automatic once she gets practice with solid foods again.  Passing that test was a big relief. The formal swallow tests by the speech pathologists are not comfortable and could have set Rie back to thick liquids diet again. 

We drove Mia to a birthday party yesterday. That was our first family outing in 11.5 months!  Starting to feel like a family again.  What a blessing, never to be taken for granted. Love and Blessings to all❤️🙏.