T Tube Post Op Day 2

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 may take something stronger later as the day goes on, but I'd like to try not to.  So we will see how it goes!  

The ENT team was just in to scope me and it was really neat to see on the little screen!  There was just one little spot of blood but otherwise it looked great!  So, they are stopping some of the nebs and switching me to lavaging 4 times a day.  I was also told I was the star patient of the unit because I drink TONS of water and walk a LOT 🤣.  GO ME! LOL.  

The teaching team came in for the trach teaching!  Although they didn't have any T Tube models, they had all sorts of models on regular trachs, like I had before!  It was pretty neat to see how they did the "class"!  They said that the only thing different for me is that I will not just be suctioning down, but also up and that is what I need to get used to and I agreed.  We both decided it will just take practice.  The lavaging I can do either with or without suctioning.  They asked if I have a strong cough.  Well yes, yes I do. Lol.  So if im able to get stuff out without suctioning after these first couple of days I won't need to suction AS much.  They just stressed how important it is to keep this tube clean.  

Tonight I have been in more pain again.  It's okay though, no pain no gain right!  For my last walk of the day I did 10 laps around the unit here.  Im not sure how many steps it is.  

Dr. Gray came in this evening and scoped me again.  She said there is quite a bit of drainage in there.  That is why in keeping you lol.  She has decided that she doesn't want me to use my strong cough when I do the lavaging.  She wants me to suction every time for now.  Also, for some reason the RT'S were giving me my two nebs in the wrong spot.  The one that was supposed to be given to me through my trach was given through my mouth and vice versa.  So, we will see if that helps tomorrow.  

She truly is my miracle Doctor and there is a reason she does stuff the way she does.  The RT couldn't understand why it mattered where the nebs were administered because it was all "going to my lungs" but I said trust me, she was very specific.  Lol.  Just a few pictures from today, enjoy!  Tomorrow I hope to get to wear normal clothes for the first time!!!  I might do a Live or just a little video so you all can hear my voice 😊