Daniel is Trach Free!

So we apologize for not posting this update earlier but as you can expect the last day and a half has been a bit of a blur.

So here's the good news - the doctors were able to complete Daniel's reconstruction surgery without any major problems and were able to remove his trach. The procedure did take approximately three and half hours and they did have to create an anterior (front) and posterior (back) graft in Daniel's trachea. Currently Daniel has a breathing tube up his nose, which will stay there (hopefully) for a week. Daniel is also pretty sedated at the moment and should remain like this until Monday. The nurses have already determined that Daniel is a little manic and figured he would fight his pain medications. They were right.

This is what Daniel looked like post-surgery yesterday afternoon. The red patch is where they did the rib graft while the white bandage is where they did the reconstruction surgery.

Here is how Daniel looks today. He does have a slight fever which is why he has the towel over his head.

One of the doctor's concerns is that Daniel's arytenoid cartilages (a pair of small three-sided pyramids which form part of the larynx, to which the vocal cords are attached) are quite large and don't move very well. The reason that this is a problem is that once they pull the tube, Daniel may still have a little bit of a problem moving air. They are taking a wait and see approach until next Monday when they pull the breathing tube. Their hope is that once they pull the tube Daniel's airway will be fine and can compensate for the large arytenoids. If not, the doctors will go back in and shave a bit of the cartilage away. So we are in a wait and see mode.

Other than that we are doing well and are setting into our "new home." Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. We can't thank you enough!! Love You!!