The blue tube in all the pictures lately has been provided heated, humidified air to help keep the secretions from Baby Girl's trach thin to help avoid clots. Today they switched her to a cooler humidified air to see how well she tolerates it since her secretions aren't as much as the first week and she doesn't have to be suctioned as much. The secretions will continue decreasing for a bit until her body adjusts to the trach. The nurse said the feeling of the trach is like having an itch in the back of your throat that you can't get rid of - your body will continue producing saliva and sending the signal that it needs to be cleared out until it adjusts. Next week we'll do the change on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that I have enough opportunities to practice and get comfortable with it.
Tomorrow ST and the trach nurse are going to test out the artificial nose and the speaking valve to see how well that goes. I won't be there for it; I'm chaperoning Little Big's field trip. Tomorrow night is the sleep study and that will determine a lot of things - including how soon we get to go home!
We found out over the weekend we were approved for disability assistance from Social Security so that opens up a lot of options for us to get supplies and equipment we would have been limited on previously - including a stroller that's designed and intended to provide support for babies who have physical limitations and lot of equipment (oxygen tank, portable suction, feeding tube stuff, etc). It will be tailored to her specific needs and built to support her! Pretty excited about that!
Hope everyone has a great Monday!
Whew! What a way to start the week! So much for Mama to learn & for Lexi to adjust to...team work at its best!
ReplyDeleteI know that it wasn't my child but I have had a lot of experience taking care of babies in the home who have a trach. It does get easier to change yourself I promise. I will make a suggestion. I don't know what your insurance is going to pay for or what your physician is going to suggest but I was able to see the difference between cleaning a trach and putting in a new one each time. If you have the choice, my suggestion would be to get a new one each time. I find it much more safe for the baby, easier on momma, and it just seemed that the baby who did that was sick much much less often.
ReplyDeleteThanks Becca!
DeleteAwesome!
ReplyDelete