Quote:
Originally Posted by wildflowerchild25
So the student I work with is going to be in the hospital for at least a couple of weeks  I am so worried about her. All we know is her swallow study “didn’t go well”. I don’t know what that means. I know the speech therapist was advocating for a feeding tube. I’m also worried about that for selfish reasons. If she gets a feeding tube, she will have a nurse with her instead of me, and I’m afraid I’ll be put out of a job. But I’m trying not to worry about that since I honestly don’t know what will happen. I definitely have my job for at least another two weeks. I’ll just be shuffled around to different classrooms every day. Not ideal. I get nervous going into other classrooms. |
It likely means that they did a video fluoroscopic exam (it’s like a video x-ray) of her swallowing different textures of food. They can see how the tongue manipulates the food, how well the food is passed back in the mouth, and they see how it is transported to the esophagus. When something “doesn’t go well” in these studies, it is usually because 1) there was penetration and/or aspiration of food/liquid into the airway, which can happen for a number of reasons, but I’m assuming with your student it would be due to neuromuscular and/or weakness issues, or 2) there is a lot of food residue left in the mouth and throat after the swallow, because the muscles just aren’t strong enough to generate enough pressure to fully strip the food. Or I suppose it is also possible that 3) her chewing and swallow are so inefficient and laborsome that the act of eating is actually a detriment to her getting proper nutrition.
Is she on puréed food or a special soft diet now? This has to be so hard for her family.
You have a very important job. Even if she gets a full-time nurse, there will always be other kids that need this same level of support. There will be another kid somewhere waiting for someone like you. They may even be sitting in those rooms you are nervous to go into.
