My preceptor is pretty into getting me into other
wards and units. So she sent me down to Radiology.
The "BAS" is to see how people are forming the ball of food or whatever that they are going to swallow and see how co-ordinated their swallow is and also to see if any is tricking down the wind pipe. Because (fun fact) some people are eating as though their lungs are a second stomach and don't cough it up...
The assessment was run by the radiologist and
the SLP. The SLP makes up the food. The food is interesting as it ranges in
textures from water to honey to pure to chunks of fruit to a sandwich to
a cookie. Then he adds radioactive
substances to them so that on the X-Ray they show up black. Then the machine is
positioned so that the area of interest is visible like the pharynx or the
esophagus or whatever. It was awesome to see all the bones in the head and the
teeth working to chew and swallow. And then to see the bolus move from the
mouth to the throat and hopefully into the correct tube. On the one I got to
watch a little bit of food was hanging out near the windpipe but then it didn’t
enter.
It was awesome to see the mouth and throat in action and the epiglottis moving to cover the windpipe! It was a huge geek moment.
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