My New Life

Bright and early at 630 this morning the ENT Team (not Dr. Gray) came in to do rounds.  They did the scope from the nose and from in the trach.  Everything is WIDE OPEN!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!!!  I am still hoarse and still have the ear pain.  And they believe the raspy voice is from just my body getting used to talking again.  My ear pain is probably from surgery.  In surgery they do something I can't remember what he said but can cause ear drum pain.  So, that's figured out!  Im just so happy to see that im wide open and clear!!!! I can't wait to get home to see my kids, continue working on my weight loss and just be able to recover from this step forward.   I was discharged at about 1145!  Mom and Dad came to pick me up.  It is the best feeling ever better!  We got home just in time for me to be able to go pick the kids up from school!  It was so fun Jack didn't know I was getting him and as soon as he saw me outsid...

Hmmm.  Today has been more difficult.  Right away this morning my voice was really good!  We thought awesome!  It worked waking up during the night to do the nebs and the lavage!  Well as the day has gone on every so often my voice has gotten a little hoarse.  We are hoping it is just that it is dry in here.  I keep flushing down the water and eating popsicles!  I also seem more tired today.  But that is hopefully just due to recent major surgery, being in a hospital room for 4 days, etc.   My breathing is still good.  I still have the pain when I cough, and my ears still hurt occasionally.   My ENT has my nebs ordered so different and so specifically that some of the RT'S still don't believe me when I say one has to go through my mouth and one through my trach.  One said to me today, I've done this for 24 years but I suppose it doesn't pay to argue, even though all I said was "that is supposed to go through my t...

Today hasn't been too exciting.  I've been laying pretty low, as I've had some pain in my ear and chest from coughing and throat still.  The nurse woke me up at 0330am to do a lavage and suction as it is ordered every 4 hours.  All the nebs and all that stuff causes a lot of coughing which is causing the pain in the chest.  I am getting a lot up though which is really good.  One time I just wasn't getting it to come out with suction, and as some of you know I have a VERY STRONG COUGH.  Well the nurse who was with me I told her she may want to stand to the side and asked her to hand me some kleenex.  I coughed twice and got it up.  She said holy cow Ann!  That is awesome!  I love having nurses who get excited about mucus.  She was studying it just like I do.   Popsicles have been my friend today.  I was very excited to wear normal clothes and share on FB with everyone my video of my voice!  The plan as of right no...

I slept ALL night!!! Minus being woke up for meds, but otherwise I slept!  Dr. Gray was in here bright and early this morning.  She is pleased with how well everything is going.  She said that she is going to have the ENT team come in today and scope me to see if there is any dry crusty "stuff" in the tube.  If not, then we can back off on the nebulizers.   Today the "trach teaching team" will come work with me on how to care for this tube a little more.  Side note -I wish I had this much instruction when I got my original trach.  When I go home Dr. Gray said I will have to do the lavaging 3 to 4 times a day until I see her in April and she scopes me again.  If there are no crusties then I can back off to twice a day😁.  I've got this!   This morning most of the muscle pain in my front from all the maneuvering during surgery is tolerable with tylenol.  That's also exciting.  Not that it doesn't hurt, and I...

So far, I feel amazing!  Like I said on Facebook, last night (night#1) was sleepless, with a lot of pain.  But, I pushed through it.  I was also given a nebulizer every 2 hours that made me cough some so that didn't help it much.  We tried a different combo of meds and I did some ice and took some walks to relax and help with some pain control, as I didn't want to take a lot of pain meds and I made it through and today is a new day!  I still feel like my breathing and talking is absolutely amazing compared to the Shiley trach I had previously.  When I first arrived yesterday in pre-op and Dr. Gray, my doctor came in to visit me before me she was all excited and said are you ready to have some fun?  I said, I hope you are because I'm ready to take a nap😂.   As I think I have said before, this type of tube isn't very common.  So, everyone here kind of wants to see it lol.  Not very many...