Resting Comfortably

Jacob had his airway surgery today. We had hoped that he would be able to have a less invasive procedure and have it done endoscopically but they were not able to cut through the scar tissue because it was to thick.

They let us know they had to do the complete airway reconstruction. We were disappointed because we knew this meant a harder recovery for our beautiful boy. We knew this would be a huge possibility though. The surgery was supposed to take 5 hours but thankfully it only took 2 and half. He did very well during surgery. They took cartilage from his rib and built a graft in his airway to open it up. He is now in the PICU resting.

We spoke to the surgeon and she said that he did very well and the plan is to keep him sedated and on the ventilator for about a week. Sometime Tuesday through Thursday they will take him to the OR and do a scope to see how he is healing. If everything looks good then he can be extubated the next day. That is when the hard part begins. Jacob may have withdraw issues from all of the sedation medication. He will also need to learn to breathe, swallow and eat all over again. His voice will be very hoarse for a while and he will need speech therapy (Which he already gets once a week). It will be a long road but the hope is that Jacob will be able to breathe better and won't have the stryder (Loud noise while breathing).

The incision in his rib is very painful and he had a drainage tube in his neck and his rib right now. They should come out in a few days. Please pray for comfort and a quick recovery for my sweet baby boy.

If Jacob does well the next few weeks and doesn't have any setbacks we may be able to leave in 2 weeks. He will need follow up scopes to check to make sure the scarring doesn't come back. The surgeon said in the single stage airway process like Jake had done she has never had to repeat it. It usually works and they do well.

I have been sitting by his side and he just woke up. It broke my heart. I had to hold him down while the nurse gave him medication. He has two nurses right now so the other nurse held him down as well. My sweet baby had a single tear fall from his eye. He kept signing "All done" over and over while looking at us and struggling to move and get the vent out. He was also coughing but it is all silent because of the vent. It broke my heart but I know that he won't remember any of this. They gave him more medication and he is now resting comfortably again.

Good news we got today was Ronald McDonald House had a room for us so Andy, my mom and Aidan will have a place to stay.

Thank you for all of the prayers, please keep them coming!