Let Go

Paxton had a therapy session scheduled for today. He was going to be working on oral motor skills for the first time since surgery. They decided against offering him any pureed foods to avoid overwhelming him.

Susanne started slowly by working on some intense facial massaging. He didn't appear to be too resistant to the exercises. He even proved that he could still bring his tongue forward when prompted. Susanne showed the therapist how he was interested in the oral swabs that she got from the hospital. She reminded the therapist that Paxton had responded well to them in the past and he responded well to them after this last surgery. Paxton allowed Susanne to place the oral swab into his mouth horizontally. He would open his mouth up to receive the oral swab and place his lips around it. His tongue would move forward to explore the texture of it. He eventually started to suckle around it when he realized that doing so caused it to express small amounts of water. He seemed startled at first, but gradually became accustomed to it. The water appeared to sooth his throat especially since it was so dry from breathing through his mouth and not swallowing much. They decided not to push him too hard today. They wanted to end on a good note so they stopped while they were ahead. Next session, however, they would bring it.

Susanne and Paxton had a pretty low key day. Paxton was still having days where he wanted and needed longer naps. Susanne took this opportunity to try to get adjusted back to real life. She had piles of bills and numerous messages she still needed to sort through.

Susanne was caught off guard by a phone call she received from Scott later that night. He informed her that he was let go from his job at the end of the day. Just when the two of them were beginning to think that things couldn't get worse in their lives, they were proven wrong.