Will last summer with the trach
In the ER the day he took it out
Will one year later
Even though I'm a few days late on the actual date, I still wanted to take a moment to celebrate the anniversary of the greatest miracle that I have ever personally witnessed. Last Labor day weekend was the day Will and God decided he no longer needed his trach. If you've stuck with us this long, you probably remember the story, but I'm going to re-tell it nonetheless! I woke up with a sick headache the morning of August 31, I thought I was going to throw up, so I went back to bed, leaving Matt to handle the kids. I heard some commotion, but I just tried to ignore it. Before long, Mason comes running into the room yelling, "Daddy needs you, there's something wrong with Will!!" I went running into the playroom/mini hospital, to find Will lying on the floor, looking perfectly fine, but with no trach. His oxygen saturation levels were fine, but I didn't know how long that would last. I grabbed a new trach tube and tried to put it in, but the hole had closed up and I couldn't get the tube in. I grabbed a smaller one, but couldn't get that in either. We were freaking out because we didn't know if he was going to start struggling to breathe and turning blue at any moment, so we called 911.
The EMTs were awfully surprised to see that there patient was a perfectly happy, rosy-cheeked baby boy who looked like nothing in the world was wrong with him! They couldn't get the trach tube in either, so they decided to take him to the hospital. Matt rode along and I stayed with the other two until my mom got there. As I was frantically getting ready (and throwing down about 10 ibuprofen to try to combat my skull-crushing headache) I was trying not to get too hopeful about the fact that my child was breathing perfectly on his own. All I could think was "maybe he doesn't need the trach anymore." But I was scared to let myself hope too hard for that.
I arrived at St. Mary's just after they'd decided to transport Will to Egleston. He was still breathing fine, but no one knew how long that would last. I sent Matt home to get our stuff together to go to the hospital because we knew we'd be there for a while. I rode in the ambulance with Will, strapped to the gurney, holding him. This was a trip I'll never forget. I get terrible motion sickness. I'm ok riding in the front seat looking out the window, but that's it. So here I was, facing backward in an ambulance, still nauseous from my sick headache. That was the longest ride of my life!!! Will slept in my arms and I just held him with my eyes closed, praying I wouldn't vomit on his head!!! We finally got to the Egleston ER and spent hours waiting for a room to open up.
Those were beautiful hours. We got to hold and play with our child without having to worry about medical equipment for the first time ever. We also got to hear his sweet voice. It was amazing, but bittersweet because I was so afraid that they would have to put the trach back in, and this would be the only time we got to experience completely unfettered bonding with our sweet baby. But Will and God had other plans. We stayed at Egleston under observation for three days and Will continued to breathe perfectly. Every day I grew a little more excited at the prospect of a trach-free baby, but I never for one moment stopped praying. That was one time when I truly prayed without ceasing. There wasn't much to my prayers, they mostly consisted of, "Please, God, please." But I figured He knew what I was asking for.
After a bronchoscopy that showed that while he still had serious airway issues, they weren't serious enough to require a trach, we were released!!! I have never been so happy as the day I brought that healthy, normal, equipment-free baby from the hospital. Our family was healthy and complete and I have never felt more blessed. Not many people get to personally experience a miracle, but I did, and not a day passes that I don't say a prayer of thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment