Monday, December 22, 2008

Revolution

After our last visit with Dr. Digoy, he scheduled Ben's final surgery for January 9th to remove the trach. I was a little disappointed because I had been praying that Ben would have his trach out before the end of the year, but what's an extra week or two when you've been waiting for two years. Growing tired of the whole situation, Ben decided to take matters into his own hands.

On Saturday morning, Adrienne went into Ben's room to get him out of his crib, but she was surprised to find that Ben's trach was lying on the floor in the middle of the room. When she tried to put the trach back in, Ben's airway had already closed up enough that she couldn't get it back in. Being somewhat distressed by this, we called Dr. Digoy, and he told us that as long as Ben was breathing normally, we could just leave the trach out.

So Saturday went by without a problem, and that evening Ben slept for 11 glorious hours without us having to wake him up and suction him once.  Needless to say, Sunday morning was great time of celebration with the church. 

Very few things have gone according to plan over the past two years so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by Ben's unorthodox approach to trach removal.  I do hope you'll keep all of this hush-hush since he's now guilty of practicing medicine without a license. I also hope you'll say a prayer of thanksgiving to God today for his mercy, healing, (and sense of humor).

Here are the first videos of "Life After Trach". 



Thursday, December 11, 2008

Right Line, Wrong Lap

The end is still in sight; we just need to make one more lap around the track.  Dr. Digoy decided to temporarily put in a special trach that let Benjamin breathe through his mouth and nose.  The last time we tried this trach, Ben couldn't handle it. This time, however, he got used to it after a few minutes and slept through the night in the hospital without any suctioning or problems breathing. Since Ben passed this test, he's ready to have the final surgery to take out the trach. We don't know when this last surgery will be, but it should be soon.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Almost There

The surgeon has decided that if Ben's airway looks good on Tuesday morning, he's going to proceed and take out the trach (decannulation). The surgery starts at 7:45 in OKC, and we'll be in the hospital for a few days if all goes well.  It feels so good to have the finish line in sight.