Gone to the Dogs

 The happiest part of his day:  Pet therapy at the Ronald McDonald House.

 Yesterday, Leo took in 8.5 ounces over 9 sessions.  Drum Roll-  Today, Leo took in 11.5 ounces over 8 session.  We upped the time of each session from 12 minutes to 14 minutes.  We also got rid of another one of his feeds.  So now instead of 5 g-tube feeds a day he is getting 3.  We will probably add one back in over the weekend while we are home but everyone seems confident that we have permanently replaced at least one g-tube feed with oral eating.  Leo's swallow is so much stronger.  We are only working on swallowing liquids at the moment.  Talk is we will add baby food back in next week.  

Tomorrow is the end of week four.  One more week in the intensive program to go.  After the intensive program we will be returning to the clinic for follow-ups every 3 weeks till Leo is an expert at eating.  I was reminded again today this is a marathon not a sprint.  Leo is making progress and will continue to even when we are done our 5 five weeks.  

In bed and asleep by 8:00 each night.

Our goal is to finish the week strong and well.  Please pray that Leo stops fighting the sessions.  He goes willingly into the room when we say it is time to eat.  He is smiling and laughing as we put him in the chair.  He eagerly pushes the timer to start the session and he even takes quite a few bites willingly.  He does awesome and then he decides he is done.  He has performed long enough and he wants out.  My prayer is that his endurance will grow and that even though he doesn't understand why he needs to eat, he will become a willing participant.  Please pray that Leo cooperates tomorrow.  Please pray that we can increase his volume even more. Thankful for how far Leo has come and we are trusting God to carry us through the rest of this journey.