Archie had an appointment today with his gastro-enterologist to discuss removing his feeding tube....Dr. Fahl walked in said "Happy Easter" and proceeded to take out the tube! YAY! His dietitian, feeding clinic team and pediatrician all feel that Archie is eating enough orally now and his blood work came back a-ok. Sooo we no longer have to carry feeding pumps, extension cords, power supplies, ice packs, feeding bags and cans of Pediasure with us on trips, Archie won't get tangled up in tubing when he's trying to sleep and other than his belly button, he won't have anything sticking out of his tummy anymore! Josie helped put two band-aids on his tummy to cover up his "boo-boo" which should be healed in a few days...
There is a small down-side to this happy news...with the removal of his feeding-tube, Archie is no longer considered medically-fragile and will lose his Medicaid funding which paid for his prescriptions, doctors visits, speech therapy (he's still babbling) physical therapy, hippotherapy and the feeding clinic, which we will still be attending. Archie needs to learn how to feed himself, drink from a cup, chew harder foods (like pretzels, celery, etc). It was nice having Medicaid pay for everything but in the long run we'd much rather have his feeding tube out and hopefully he won't need therapy much longer if he keeps up the good work!
Our family will be participating in Albuquerque's American Heart Association Heart Walk on March 29th. We just found out about it and apologize for the short notice but would appreciate any help you can give!
Please enter 'ROBIN ILLER' in the participant section if you would like to donate.
Thank you and have a Happy and Healthy Easter Weekend!
p.s. We also had a wonderful visit with Grandma Haley, who helped celebrate Archie's 2nd Birthday this month!
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