Trach update

Remember she was on a ventilator (breathing machine) and had a tracheostomy/trach (hole in neck into windpipe) since Jan of 2003 due to airborne infant botulism.

It was a lot of work to wean her off of the ventilator. You have to do it slowly to allow your lungs to get strong enough again. We could take her off for a couple of minutes a few times a day. And we slowly increased the time she would be off of it. I don't really remember when she was completely off of the ventilator, I would guess about Oct or Nov 2003.

But she still had the trach. Then the next step was to re-train her to breathe through her nose and mouth. So they have a speaking valve. This is a one way valve that you place over the trach. It allows air to go out, but not in. So she would have to breathe in through her nose/mouth but she could breathe out through the trach. That takes some major coordination. Not to mention that you have this tube in your throat that you have to breathe around. We had to do the same thing as weaning her off of the vent. A few minutes of the speaking valve a few times a day and greadually increasing the amount of time.

Next came capping the trach. The cap would force her to breathe in AND out through her nose/mouth. Once again with the weaning process.

So, the next surgeries were Mar and Aug of 2004.

In March they went in and cut out some granulation tissue from her trach stoma (hole). Granulation tissue is just excess tissue from your body trying to heal itself.

Then in August they pulled out her trach. They do it in the hospital so that if she had problems breathing that they could help her. It was an overnight stay in intensive care. SHe did fine, so she came home.

Now you know of people who didn't wear earrings for a long time and their holes close up. Well it is the same for trachs. Except that the vast majority close up on their own.

So they didn't put in stitches in or anything, they just plan on it closing up by itself.