PICU Day 29

6 years ago - WOW! 6 years ago Ben was trached. This picture was taken right after he came back from his surgery. (cute as a button!) I remember this day SO clearly. It was a hard time. I was NOT mentally prepared for a trach. See that fresh scar on his belly? That was from his stomach wrap less than a month before his trach surgery. THAT surgery is what caused Ben to need his trach. I learned a very hard lesson in that medically when you fix one thing...inevitably something else will break. BUT, on a happier note, I haven't regretted the trach ever since. It's been our very needed friend.

So today was a little disheartening. Ben stopped breathing 3 different times. It wasn't as scary as it could have been because he is on the vent. The good thing is that the vent will kick in a backup rate if the patient isn't breathing for a specific amount of time. (his apnea alarm is set at 30 seconds) The disturbing part for me is that he was wide awake. He's had apnea before, (rarely) but usually when sleeping. We are trying to figure this all out before we head home...they even talked about keeping him one more night. We'll see how things look in the morning.