Summer of 2003, Ben had two major surgeries. The first one was performed in June by a pediatric surgeon, Dr. Latchaw. The name of the surgery was a "Fundoplication" or Nissan wrap. This is where they take the top of your stomach and wrap it tightly around your esophagus so that the food in your stomach won't "reflux" or travel back up the esophagus into your mouth. This surgery was done to prevent Ben from aspirating food into his lungs. He stayed 8 days in the PICU at Dartmouth and recovered quite nicely from the surgery. The only drawback was that his swallowing capabilities were changed and so when his secretions would pool in the back of the throat he would start coughing, choking and turning blue. We tried so hard to fix this problem but in the end, the only thing that helped was to have a "Tracheotomy" done.
Dad seeing Ben right after his trach surgery
Sleepin peacefully after surgery
Ben's fundoplication surgery