Zoe and her new bear Zur Cotton show off her newly-capped trache.
Zoe had her bronchoscope yesterday and mostly it was good news. The graft looks good and seems to be holding her airway open. The physician did comment that her airway should be 4.5cm and right now is only measuring at 3.5cm, which concerns him slightly There is still some inflammation, but hopefully the airway will continue to become larger as the swelling goes down, and Zoe continues to grow. If not, we will address it in the next few months. Since Zoe started out with Grade IV stenosis (the worst you could have), some complications like this would not be uncommon. There was also a piece of granulomous tissue above the trach that the physician had to cut off during the procedure. As long as Zoe has her trach, there will be the possibility that this tissue could return since it was / could be probably caused by irritation of her trach. She was also downgraded to a 3.0 size trach tube.
After Zoe’s bronch, she was admitted for 48 hours for a trach cap trial. During this time, a cap is put over her trach and is not allowed to come off for any reason (unless it pops off by accident). We are not even allowed to suction her. Zoe must be able to breath on her own through her new airway, keeping her O2 sats above 92% and her heartrate reasonable. She must also learn to cough and handle her own secretions internally (not by blowing them out her trach hole). If we have to take the cap off for any reason, the trial is considered a failure. We have to pass a trial before we can try capping at home, and definitely before we can even consider coming back to remove the trach.
Well that’s where we are. All in all, things are going very well, though very stressful. The trial and getting used to breathing through the new airway is tough on kids (especially little ones that you cannot explain things to). Hopefully after the trial, we will be discharged and be making our way home for a month of RR. Again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers during this time. We look forward to seeing you all soon.
