Brady update ~reposted from Desi. Lots of good news :) Way to go Brady! I am actually getting this update done today like promised yesterday! Granted it is only with 45 mins to spare, but Im doing it!! Lol As you all know Brady had surgery yesterday to put a trach in & have the Clagett window done, it went very well! Brady lost very little blood & went the whole surgery with no issues! Yay......good job son!!! Both the trach & the window will be there for quite sometime. The trach will be removed once he can completely breathe on his own with absolutely no issues, & the air leak is completely healed. The window will be there until that hole fills with granulate tissue & other body fluids potentially 8 or more months (maybe less). He will have to have the gauze replaced every three days until it is healed. At first that will be done by the surgeon in an operating room Once he is strong enough the nurses & Dr can do it bedside in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.....otherwise known as our home away from home). Then the rehab nurses will & eventually when he is home it will be up to us! Kinda scary thought at this point in time, but they are trying to assure us we will be ready when the time comes! This window will allow the omintem flap the time it needs to adhere completely & stop the leak. It also allows any air that does leak escape through the hole instead of filling his chest cavity. After the surgery his Dr came & talked with us for a very long time about the months to come. She stressed to us that Brady is not out of the woods by any means but that he is on the path & we can see where we are going! He doesnt have to relearn how to to everything ( like a person with spinal cord injury has to relearn how to walk for example) but he has to rebuild the strength to do the simplest tasks like breathe, swallow, move his arms,sit up, walk & so on. That is why he will have to spend possibly months in an impatient rehab. We also learned that he will not be able to speak for awhile after he wakes up for a couple of reasons 1 the trach tube has to be larger in the beginning until the wound heals enough to not close up. Because it is bigger it puts pressure on the vocal cords, 2 he has has a breathing tube in for over a month & it kind of causes the vocal cords to freeze up. But they promise us he will be able to speak again because there isnt any permanent damage. She (Dr) then told us how the next few days will go. After 24 hrs they will remove the paralytic drug & let him begin to start taking some breathes on his own & move a little. He will be lightly restrained to the bed to make sure he doesnt pull the trach or feeding tube out. They will keep his sedation medications the same to make sure he is comfy. On monad they will do another dressing change & also change his trach tube this will take place in the OR. They will most likely come down on the sedation meds & also ventilator settings at that time. This will enable him to start strengthening his remaining lung. She also prepared us on how Brady will be acting as he begins to wake up, & how we should handle the situation. You have to remember that Brady will be waking up thinking its only been a day or two since his surgery. It will take quite awhile for him to fully comprehend all that has happened!!! We will have to constantly repeat things for awhile because of all the meds he is on! This to me is the hardest part & something I have been dreading to have to tell him. His life will be radically different than what he was expecting when he went into surgery! I know that my son is strong enough to work through the physical & emotional trauma, but it breaks my heart anyway!! He will have lots of help for the physical & emotional things here at Marybridge, & I thank god everyday for that!!! Im sure I have left something out of this update so if you have any questions please feel free to ask! I would once again like to say THANK YOU to every single person who has kept Brady & us in your thoughts & prayers!! You guys are an amazing support system for all of us! From the bottom of hearts we love & thank you!! Oh darn it I did forget something in this book I wrote!! BRADY LANE WOKE UP TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was able to have his eyes open, even wanted his glasses on! He squeezed our hands, answered commands to open his mouth & spit & cough a little, gave a couple of thumbs up, & he even was able to lift & move his arms a little ways! WE EVEN GOT BRADY SMILES, usually when we told him we loved him or when his brother teased around with him, usually at my expense!!! Lol OUR BABY BOY IS STILL WITH US!! Our hearts are filled with so much love & happiness right now!! We ask that everyone please understand that visitors at this point are limited to immediate family only! Brady has a lot to comprehend & work through right now & we need to all be patient & give him some time to understand it all!!! We are very excited to let everyone come see him, but we need to make sure it is safe before we do! So as soon as the Dr gives us a thumbs up on it we are going to let you all know! Sincerely & with much gratitude & love~ Desiree, Chad, Michael, Sara, Bret, Hailey, Kaylee, The all to adorable Girlies, Cliff & Deborah, Bob & Donna
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 18:36:08 +0000
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