Maya's trach is still out after a night's sleep!

GO MAYA GO! We are so proud of our little girl. It is like she has transformed into a new person over night. Her neck is clear (other than an occasional bandage to cover her hole in her neck), and her energy is through the roof! Unfortunately, she did not sleep very long last night (from 8PM-2:30AM), so neither did Dad! However, while she was asleep she did NOT need ANY oxygen, snored pretty good, but never seemed to show any signs of distress. My brother reassured me that his kids snore too! That made me feel a bit better. We really do NOT know what a typical night's sleep will look like yet, but we are fortunate enough to have nursing care for 16 hours a day for a month and then 8 hours (for the night shift) for another month before we lose our care all together. This will give us a real good idea of Maya's progress/ challenges with her trach out before we are on our own.

The biggest concern is that Maya will start to struggle for air as the hole in her neck heals. We can tell that at times she does push air through her neck because it make funny sounds, which I kind of think she likes...the little stinker:-) However, most of the time she is breathing through her nose and mouth VERY comfortably, and like I said before her energy has been amazing...MORE than normal. I am not sure if she is just excited to have her trach out, if her breathing is easier, or what...but she is a happy camper and that is what is MOST important!

We will let you know how our adjustment goes, and how Maya sleeps over the next few days and transitions back to school. Dean just said to me, "I keep wanting to put Maya's cap back on her trach because I can hear her moving air in and out of her airway." We are VERY excited and hope that Maya stays healthy and continues to do great with her trach out!

If you click on the picture below, you can view Maya's hospital experience in pictures.


My Montage 5/13/08