Before I give the details of our Stanford visit today I'd like to ask a question. Can somebody clue me in to where the off button is for nearly 10 year old little girls who like to talk non-stop? We really enjoyed having Laryssa accompany us today but good grief, the kid didn't quit talking once!
The appointments went well today. First we saw the ENT {ear, nose and throat} department. We had a million questions to answer and then asked a million ourselves.
The surgery to do the tracheotomy is actually pretty simple and very low risk {For future reference: the procedure is called tracheotomy and what is in his throat/trachea is called a tracheostomy} While he is scheduled to be in the hospital 3-5 days if all goes well his stay can be shorter. The main reason to stay is to make sure he is stable after anesthesia and to teach him how to maintain his tracheostomy. Pain should be minimal, it's all about getting used to a new way of breathing. Since this department is where a lot of people travel to for head and neck surgeries they are very experienced at what they do and they are good at it.
Then we went to the anesthesia department for more questions and tests. Blood work, blood pressure, EKG...the whole shabang. We have to see a cardiologist here in town tomorrow to get clearance for surgery because of the blood clots in his lungs. While it is generally not ideal to do surgery so soon after having PE's {pulmonary embolisms} this is a warranted surgery where the benefits definitely outweigh the risks.
Steve will only need to use the tracheostomy while he is having an upper airway attack. I have done a lot more research and it seems so very clear that what the ENT doc said is what Steve has been dealing with all these months. No deadly lung disease. And it all seems to be traceable back to that knee surgery in January. While he has had the acid reflux longer than that the injury to his vocal cords made the situation worse and the blood clots, whether there since January or more recent have complicated everything. I found a PDF page that explains thing really well.
Steve is very nervous and frightened. I don't blame him. One thing that is a concern is that his voice may not be the same. He will be able to talk but they said it might be different because it will not be the same airflow. We just will not know until he heals. I have found some other sites where people do talk about this and some do say they have a bit of a froggy voice while others say there was no change at all.
So surgery is scheduled for November 24th at 12:30. I will try to make arrangements to stay there that night and return the next day. Please pray for: Steve's fear and anxiety, a safe surgery and pain free recovery, arrangements for me to be able to stay and the kids at home cared for, no voice loss and most of all...effortless breathing.
3 comments:
Good report, Rhonda. Here's to some cotton for your ears!
Hi Rhonda - Thanks for the detailed report. Glad to hear that Laryssa apparently isn't having any breathing problems - cute picture too. I see that you're probably learning more medical stuff than you ever hoped to know. Ellen and I can relate - we did too when dealing with our middle son's brain tumor, and more recently my dad's fairly rapid decline and eventual death due to lung-related disease. In my case, once the medical issues were resolved, I quickly reverted back to my original state of blissful ignorance - medically speaking - I hope.
I'm praying for you and your family.
Love you.
I think girls are just built that way. What were you like? Both Mary and Melanie use to actually say to us, "Am I talking too much?" Brad was always so wonderful with the answer, "No, honey".
I'm glad to hear that Steve's road may get a little smoother. And of course this means your will also. Oh, by the way, how's the bark, bark, bark?
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