Get Well Clarkie!

As Megan mentioned in her last post, Aaron had pretty rough week, along with the weekend. The doctors have been trying to find a medication that will work with TBI and help Aaron sleep, as he averages about 3 hours a night. I believe they may have found a good combination since he got a few more hours of sleep last night.

The ENT doc performed a fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of Aaron’s swallowing. The doc passed a small, flexible, custom-designed scope, attached to a camera, through the nose and into the middle of the throat. Pictures of the throat and voice box were recorded as Aaron tried to swallow liquid. Sadly, the evaluation determined that his vocal cords are paralyzed. Aaron is able to somewhat speak in a rough, hoarse whisper due to him using his vestibular folds. The vestibular folds are a pair of thick folds of mucous membrane that sit slightly above the true vocal cords. Using the vestibular folds to speak is extremely tiring. We found out from the videofluoroscopic swallow study that Aaron’s cricopharyngeus muscle and epiglottis are not operating properly, allowing food & liquid to enter his trachea. This problem, along with the vocal cord paralysis will keep Aaron from eating and drinking for quite awhile. The ENT and speech therapist believe these issues are due to his brain injury. The cranial nerve X (vagus nerve) supplies nerve fibers to the pharynx, larynx, trachea, esophagus and brings sensory information back from the tongue, pharynx, and larynx.

I wanted to thank all the Clarkie supports out there. The fundraisers, events, auctions, retail items, donations, and messages are wonderful. I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving.

Take care – Tedi