It's a........... Neck!

Well Emerson got decannulated offically on Friday April 8th. Let me start with her background story.


Monday was her sleep study all night and she passed it with flying colors! Then Tuesday around 2pm they did her brocoscopy. Bronchoscopy is a procedure that allows your doctor to look at your airway through a thin viewing instrument called a bronchoscope. During a bronchoscopy, the doctor will examine your throat, larynx , trachea , and lower airways. When Dr. Levine did this he found a granuloma. A granuloma is a small area of inflammation in tissue due to injury. Dr. Levine said it was very common that most of his trach patients get them. It's caused from being intabated, trached, and suctioned a lot. But he said it was the biggest granuloma he's seen in a long time. So with that said Emerson was unable to get decannulated on Tuesday instead they consulted ENT and sent us home to return on Friday morning for removal of the granuloma and decannulation.

On the above picture the second row, third picture is a great picture of the granuloma. The white is the granuloma.

So Friday came and Emerson was scheduled for 8am to have her granuloma removed and then decannulated. Emerson went into the procudure on time, it took about an hour. Everything went very smoothly and we got called to the recovery room to be with her as she woke and she was doing fine. Doctor wanted her oxygen to be between 90-92 or above and she was doing that for a while then her oxygen dropped to 89 and 88 and they decided to put her on some oxygen and her levels went up. About two hours after the procudure her room was ready and we got settled in. At that point Emerson was still on the oxygen and was left on it throughout the night. However throughout the night they slowly weened her off the oxygen and was completly off by 6am. When the doctor came in he was concerned that she wasn't off the oxygen long enough to send her home so the doctor decided to keep us another night to monitor her off the oxygen through the night. So even though I didn't want to stay another night we did since it was best for Emerson. Through the night Emerson did great without her oxygen and we were able to go home Sunday around 2pm. Now my sweet Emmy has a.......neck!

Emerson is continuing to progress a little everyday. And I can't thank God enough for his healings. Lately Emerson's legs have been getting stronger and last Tuesday at therapy Emerson took 4 independent steps while in her walker. Meaning she had no assistace from her therapist!!!! Also too her arms are getting stronger. Emerson has been pushing up on her arms and supporting herself while lifting her head.

So all in all Emerson is gettting better slowly and like I said I can't be more blessed or thankful! So please continue to PUSH for Emerson!

Decannulation

Decannulation - The removal of a cannula: in the case of children with trachs, the removal of the tracheostomy tube.

Well Emerson is at Children's Hospital and is in the process of getting her sleep study done for possible decannulation.

We were told to get to the hospital at 5:30pm and head to the ER to register. We arrived at 5pm registered but had to wait about an hour for a room. While we waited we ate. We finally arrived in our room around 6:15pm at that point we told all of our old nurses hello and then they weighed Emerson and took her height and measured her head. She has a pretty big head like her daddy, lol. Then around 7:20 or so we brought her downstairs for an xray. We came back up and got her trach downsized from a 3.5 to a 3.0, and she did good. Then they began to set her up. And boy did that take a while. She has so many wires and straps hooked up to her. She has this two pronged thing in her nose, it's there to let the computer know if air is coming in and out of her nose or mouth. She has a microphone on her chest. She has leads on that measures her respiration and heart rate. She has a probe on her foot to tell her oxygen level. She has two straps around her chest for respiration as well. She has another blue dot on her foot and I forget what that's for. Poor baby has so much hooked up to her. After all that commotion she got her meds and fell fast asleep. Then the nerve wrecking part happened........ they capped her! And she did great didn't freak out, didn't start breathing rapidly. Nothing. Thirty minutes passed and she was still doing great but by that time it was time for daddy and brother to head home because he's too little to stay overnight, when bubby kissed his sissy's hand her heart rate went up, she knew her bubby kissed her! lol. So it's been about an hour and a half now and she's sound asleep and doing great!

Last Friday Emerson recieved botox again. Yes you heard me right botox. The botox is used to help relax her muscles. Botox the first time around was used in her spine, feet, and hands. Her spine and feet took really really well to the botox. Her spine no longer has that 20-30 degree curve and her feet are no longer drop foot. But her hands didnt really change much. So we decided to give it another try for her hands. She had a total of 8 injections 4 on each arm. One in her bicep two in her tricep and one in her thumb muscle. We are now in day 3 of this and I see a slight slight difference but nothing major. It usually takes up to 2 weeks to really see a difference. So we shall see. Prayers that it works.

June is right around the corner and I can't wait! Napa Center booked and paid for 3 weeks, plane tickets booked, and hotel booked! I am so excited I spoke with Emmy's PT and the PT at Napa Center and told them my goal for Emerson which is to get complete head control and to be able to sit unassisted. I thought at first my goal was a but not reachable but they both said that my goals are realistic. Yeah I hope Emmy reaches at least my goal for her and if she goes beyond that I would be exstatic! I have to say though if Emerson never walked again, sat up by herself, or had complete head control ever again it wouldn't bother me so much. What bothers me most is that she's not here with me mentally. I miss her personality, her communication, her laughs and smiles. However the human in me wants it all, so I will continue to pray for a FULL healing on Emerson. Why ask for a cup of water when God could give me the ocean? Exactly why ask for only healing her feet I am going all out and continuing to ask for complete healing on my precious baby girl!

So all in all everything is pretty smooth sailing no major changes. I just ask that everyone continues to PUSH for Emerson.