2004 Surgery

October brought yet another surgery to Ben's history. (sigh....) Dr. Moen is Ben's orthopedic doctor and when we went for our annual visit in August, she decided that the time had come for Ben to have some release and lengthening done on his muscles because they had become so contracted. We actually tried botox first, but it never really worked for Ben. As you can see above, Ben's legs were placed in removable casts so that we could watch his skin carefully. (he has very sensitive skin) His feet were actually casted from his knees down. Ben spent a total of four days in the PICU where he recovered marginally. He had his usual post-operative respiratory issues but other than that he did fine. They had him weaned down from morphine for the pain to just tylenol. The doctor had us do a few trial hours of getting him out of bed and into his chair to make sure the pain wasn't too bad. He passed with flying colors.

Aunt Suzanne sent you a buddy to comfort you.
Ben in the PICU
Going HOME!!!:)

Trach Change

Every two weeks I used to take Benjamin up to Dartmouth to get his trach changed. Laura Cogswell would usually changes Ben's trach although Dr. Gosselin, Ben's ENT doctor occasionally would do it too. The reason we had it changed up at Dartmouth and not at home is because since he has a cuffed trach it is much more difficult to pull it out and to put it in and usually causes a good amount of bleeding. These changes use to cause Ben to have some major coughing spasms but now they spray lidocaine into his airway before the change to prevent these spasms. These pictures are from a visit in May of 2004 when both Laura and Dr. Gosselin did it together.

Laura preparing the trach
Dr. Gosselin pulling trach out
Laura getting ready to put trach in
All done! Dr. Gosselin securing his trach ties

Second Birthday

Ben turns 2!
He was the life of the party! (can't you tell?)
Funny faces with Kayla
Proud parents

Ben taking the "traditional Hutchins' Bite".