Vocal Cord Update
You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find the time to update Emma's blog on a more regular basis, but there never seems to be enough hours in the day....
Emma had a couple of appointments at CHEO last week. On Tuesday we had a follow-up visit with the E.N.T. clinic. We see the specialist regularly to check on her vocal cords (one was paralyzed after the PDA surgery she had at 2 weeks old). Emma had another laryngoscopy in which a thin, flexible fibre-optic tube is passed through her nose to her larynx to see if her vocal cords are moving. Unfortunately, the exam showed that Emma's left vocal cord is still paralyzed (open), and the specialist feels the paralysis will be permanent. It appears that Emma's right vocal cord is compensating well and is moving over to make up for the paralyzed left cord, but her voice does seem hoarse/raspy most of the time. Actually she often sounds a bit like Donald Duck, but we find it quite endearing! :)
The specialist said that Emma might need to have speech therapy to help with her voice quality, and noted that there are also some treatment/surgical options we could consider if her voice quality is very impaired. For now, we're just going to wait and see how her voice sounds once she is verbalizing more.
The other problem posed by a paralyzed vocal cord is that the open cord allows food or liquid to slip into the trachea and lungs. So far, we've been adding a special powder to Emma's milk to make it thicker/easier for her to swallow and reduce the risk of aspiration. It's possible that as Emma gets older, she will outgrow the problem, so we're going to have another feeding study to assess her aspiration risk in a couple of weeks.
We were back at CHEO on Friday for Emma's 4th Synagis injection (vaccine to help prevent RSV). She'll likely have one or two more needles this spring. While we're very thankful she qualified for the injections again this year, we're really looking forward to Spring when the risk of RSV decreases and we can get out of hibernation mode!
For your viewing pleasure, here are a few more pictures from this weekend:
Emma had a couple of appointments at CHEO last week. On Tuesday we had a follow-up visit with the E.N.T. clinic. We see the specialist regularly to check on her vocal cords (one was paralyzed after the PDA surgery she had at 2 weeks old). Emma had another laryngoscopy in which a thin, flexible fibre-optic tube is passed through her nose to her larynx to see if her vocal cords are moving. Unfortunately, the exam showed that Emma's left vocal cord is still paralyzed (open), and the specialist feels the paralysis will be permanent. It appears that Emma's right vocal cord is compensating well and is moving over to make up for the paralyzed left cord, but her voice does seem hoarse/raspy most of the time. Actually she often sounds a bit like Donald Duck, but we find it quite endearing! :)
The specialist said that Emma might need to have speech therapy to help with her voice quality, and noted that there are also some treatment/surgical options we could consider if her voice quality is very impaired. For now, we're just going to wait and see how her voice sounds once she is verbalizing more.
The other problem posed by a paralyzed vocal cord is that the open cord allows food or liquid to slip into the trachea and lungs. So far, we've been adding a special powder to Emma's milk to make it thicker/easier for her to swallow and reduce the risk of aspiration. It's possible that as Emma gets older, she will outgrow the problem, so we're going to have another feeding study to assess her aspiration risk in a couple of weeks.
We were back at CHEO on Friday for Emma's 4th Synagis injection (vaccine to help prevent RSV). She'll likely have one or two more needles this spring. While we're very thankful she qualified for the injections again this year, we're really looking forward to Spring when the risk of RSV decreases and we can get out of hibernation mode!
For your viewing pleasure, here are a few more pictures from this weekend:
posted by Laurie at 13:47
5 Comments:
Just think of all the boys who will be calling to talk to the girl with the sexy/raspy voice!!
She could be an awesome singer. I love raspy voices.
I love how involded she gets into what she is doing. Too cute as always.
Funny, I was thinking the same thing as Nancy, so many women would love to have that raspy sexy voice :).
Funny, I was thinking the same thing as Nancy, so many women would love to have that raspy sexy voice :).
A preemie friend of ours had surgery to improve his voice due to the paralyzed vocal chord. I don't know a lot of the details, but you can read about him here: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/alexdaniel/
Alex also has lots of trouble with aspiration. His mom might be a good resource for you!
Take care,
Julie
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