Last week, I made a batch of blendarized food with the very last Flintstone from Evan's first BIG bottle of vitamins. There were 150 vitamins in the bottle, and every batch of food I make for him contains one vitamin. This means I have blended him approximately 180 liters (or 47 1/2 gallons if you don't think metric) so far. We started the blendarized diet with Evan in July 2007, and once we got going have never looked back. I think it's one of the best decisions for him we've ever made. Evan is down to 1 can of Pediasure per day, which he takes with the feeding pump over night. During the day he takes approximately 600 mL of blended food mixed with 8 oz of whole milk. While combinations like "spinach-apple-acorn squash" or "vanilla bean" (green bean-pea-sweet potato mixed with vanilla flavored rice milk because the store was out of plain) don't really do much for my palate, Evan has done really well with them. And we do feed him tasty blends as well..."strawberry-peach-banana" is one of my personal favorites.
Our other milestone for the month was Evan's feeding pump biting the dust. The Kangaroo Pet pump has been with us since Evan came home from the hospital. I was trying to calculate how much that little pump pumped while we had it (we started out renting it from Keeler's medical supply, so it wasn't brand new). It's not the easiest math because the total volume per day has changed as Evan's gotten older (and as he's been able to take the bulk of his volume during the day). I would estimate the average volume that pump has delivered per day would be about 500 ml, times 3.5 years is approximately 640 L (169 gallons)! The Kangaroo Pet is no longer made, so Evan's new pump is a Zevex Infinity. Of course the new pump uses totally different bags (if anyone wants any of the Pet pump bags, we have about 30 we can't return). It's a much quieter pump. It's smaller and sleeker. It doesn't have to be hung upright, so we were able to take the IV stand out of Evan's room. And the new pump came with an absolutely adorable tiny backpack that Evan will actually wear (pictures to follow--it's really cute).
4 comments:
WOW!! I have never thought of how much Eva took in, its amazing. That was the pump she had also and the little guy I do respite for has the one Evan is getting.
Keep up the great work!!
Hugs,
Crystal and Eva
I love love love that pump that Evan has. The only drawback that we have is the door on it, the little latch breaks very often. Since you just got one though maybe you have the revised one. I have been told you can put a little piece of cardboard in there to where when you are opening it, it gives the latch some reinforcement to where it won't eventually break. Christopher still has his IV pole because the pump comes with an IV pole thing to where at night you can attach it to the pole while he is eating. That is so good that he is thriving on the blended diet! Love the picture with his little backback. Have a great week!
Wow! It is amazing how much food intake just one little person must have in order to thrive. Yes, you made a wise choice to put real food into Evan, instead of just the other alternative. It is really frightening these days, because you are never sure of what has been put into them, but you are very sure of the foods you used. I hope Evan appreciates all those wonderful, tasty combinations that you put together.
Keep on eating and growing!
Love, Grandma
Evan,
Grandpa says that he is lucky to even get a bowl of soup, maybe you would be willing to send over some of your recipes.
I remember that Grandpa used to be pretty good about putting together some rather unusual, colorful, blenderized drinks for Aunt Jen. Mmm! Green beans, hambuger, potatoes and ice cream. Being small is really the only way one could enjoy a drink like that, and so she did.
Just a small moment that needed to be recalled.
Love, Grandma
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