Recovery Time

Here we are, day #4 post-op, and things are progressing slow and steady. Here's a little recap of how things have went: 

We were able to bust out of the PICU Wednesday afternoon, and to a regular room on the floor. Things have been stable, and we were able to get better rest in our new room, thank goodness! Clay started spiking a fever on Thursday and had a pretty crummy day that day. He wasn't tolerating anything on his tummy at all (even stomach juices) so they set the g-tube to drain and that seemed to help alot. He also had more fluid around his lungs so they were closely monitoring that and trying to get his JP chest tube to drain adequately, and taking chest x-rays to make sure his lungs aren't getting too flooded. All these issues are to be expected after a major surgery.

Friday was a much better day - he rested very well overnight and woke up looking much more perky. He even got out of the bed and walked down the hall and did great! He sat up in a chair for a good part of the day, too. As bad as it hurts him to move around, we really need him moving so that he can move fluid out of his tissues, and also help wake up his guts. We were also able to start his g-tube feedings at 20ml/hour continuous feeds, and he's tolerated that okay so far! He's had a couple of pukes after trying to give Tylenol through his g-tube, (about 14ml all at once) so we've had to resort to getting Tylenol rectally. Just another reminder that we've got to go slow with his guts.

Friday evening, he felt like playing a little Fortnite so that was a big pick-me-up! He was able to talk to one of his buddies online, and his voice just sounded a lot stronger than we've heard since surgery, so that was sooooo good to hear. 

Overnight, he seemed to have a hard time getting comfortable and wasn't able to rest too well, but in this morning's interactions with me and Daddy, his nurses and doctors - we can definitely tell he's getting some of his sass back :) little man is so funny. His urine output has also been low, despite all the IV fluids he's been getting. His body is obviously retaining most of the fluids because he's looking pretty puffy today. So during rounds today, it was decided to give some Lasix to help him move the fluid, and also some milk of magnesia to help him have a bowel movement. So we'll do that first and then if things go well, we may be able to up his feeds a little! Crossing our fingers and toes he tolerates everything today! 

Clay's getting some good pain meds through a PCA pump, and also Toradol and Tylenol every 6 hours, so thankfully his pain is being managed okay. He sure is a trooper - and just the best little patient - not afraid to speak up for what he needs! The nurse and doctors all comment on how mature he is, and he has won over more hearts, per usual. 

Even though we had some initial hopes of getting home this weekend, I'm gonna go ahead and say that's not gonna happen. We've still got a ways to go and a lot of meds and oxygen to wean off of. We're okay with hanging out, though. There's no rush and we want to make sure he's good and ready! Our surgeon is pleased with his progress and says Clay's still way ahead of where he thought he'd be at this point! 

We are so grateful for everyone's prayers and love and good vibes sent our way. 

Y'all have a good weekend, take some deep breaths, and hug your people tight. Peace and Love, dear friends!

Successful Surgery Update

Yesterday was Clay's diaphragm hernia repair #3 surgery and what an unbelievably successful day it was! We are still in shock at how smoothly things went, and are so so thankful.

In pre-op, Clay got pretty emotional and had some big tears knowing surgery would be starting soon, but after the anesthesiologist explained all the steps for sedation and process for putting in the IVs and giving the medications, he felt better. Poor guy had been worried he'd wake up in the middle of surgery and be able to see and feel everything going on. He got wheeled off to the OR around 8am in good spirits, which definitely made it easier for me and Eric. 

The waiting game is never easy, but the operating team was awesome about sending updates every hour, so that was a huge relief. We got the same message every update: they're still working, and Clay was doing fine. When it came around to the 1:30pm update, we got paged over the intercom to go to the consultation room. Blehh, those calls always make my heart drop - I never know what to expect! 

We met Dr. Draus in the consultation room and he said things went wonderfully! There was a significant amount of bowel that was up in his chest, but it came down very easily - there wasn't much adhesion or scar tissue, which is what we were most afraid of running into - thank the Lord, that was an answered prayer! Once the bowel was down, he was able to move the spleen out of the way without damage and get a good look at the hole in his diaphragm muscle. It was a 5cm x 5cm hole that had a great rim of tissue around it, so that was wonderful news for his patch work. Draus said he could have pulled the existing tissue together to close the hole, but it would put a lot of tension on the tissue and he didn't feel comfortable with that, so after consulting with other surgeons they all agreed - the best route was to place the Gortex patch. He took pictures and showed us the hole before and after the patch and it was so crazy to see. The culprit of a lot of daggone trials and tribulations over the past 9 years. The patch looked great, and Dr. Draus said he was very, very happy with his work and he didn't think he could've done a better job - I could tell he was very relieved with the outcome. BLESS THAT MAN! 

After Draus left the room, Eric and I just cried big ol tears of relief. Seriously. The amount of worry and dread I have felt over this surgery is hard to admit. Worst-case scenarios have been floating through my mind and kept me up at night ever since we learned about his recurrence. I'm still in disbelief at how smoothly things have went. And at how incredibly BRAVE and STRONG our Clay is. All I know is - the love and prayers surrounding us have truly carried us through, yet again. 

Dr. Draus stopped in yesterday evening to show us some before/after comparisons of Clay's chest xrays - all I can say is WOW. I'm sure Clay feels like a whole new man. Dr. Draus was thrilled with how much that little left lung has opened up. Answered prayers, for sure. 

After / Before

We should be moving to a room on the floor (out of ICU) this afternoon! I hope he'll be able to get a little better rest up there - I've almost forgotten how impossible it is to sleep in the PICU. Eric and I got a sleep room last night, which was nice to have an actual bed to rest in - but I still woke up at 3:30am and could not get back to sleep for worrying that Clay was missing us. So I came back over and sat with him - but I don't think he missed us at all; the drugs are helping him not worry about much right now. (Maybe I could use some too, haha.) Clay has been resting well all day, so that's what we need - Keeping him as comfortable as possible. Once we're out into a regular room, we'll start with feedings and try to slowly wake up his guts. If things continue to go well, Dr. Draus said he's hopeful we'll be going home this weekend! 

Our Clay Clay has yet again shown us how TOUGH he is! I can't thank you all enough for cheering him on. It's been so different this time around, to have a fully aware, wise little boy, with lots of questions and concerns - but it's been so nice to sit down with him and show him everyone's messages, kind words, and words of encouragement. They've meant the world to him! (And me and Eric!) 

I'll try to keep y'all posted as we go through recovery. 

Peace and Love, dear friends! Spread it around!  

CT Scan Update - Surgery Scheduled

Hey y'all - just a quick update on Clay's CT scans yesterday.

The scans definitely show lots of bowel up in the left side of his chest - like high, high..pretty much all the way up to his collar bone. When Dr. Draus was flipping through the layers of the pictures, we could see Clay's left lung under the bowel. Good news is that his left lung has some good size to it! It's just going to be a booger to get everything out of there and back down where it belongs. We scheduled surgery for September 22nd. 

Doc will have to very delicately cut away the scar tissue to loosen everything up, and try to not puncture organs and bowel while doing so. Dr. Draus said his biggest concern was the risk of bleeding, as he's maneuvering everything around, especially around the big arteries in the chest. He'll use Clay's original surgery scar, below his ribs to open him back up. Thankfully, this time around, Doc will have a lot more room to work with as Clay is a 65 lb. boy compared to the 7 lb. baby he worked on when he was first born. If there's enough diaphragm tissue there to sew together, he'll do that - but he'll likely have to place another patch. Draus said he's blocking off his schedule for the whole day and reserving the operating room just for Clay that day. I can't even imagine having his job. Can't. Even. Imagine. 😭

Clay's handling it all like a champ. Of course, he's bummed he has to have surgery - we all are. But he is such an incredibly bright and brave boy. He's full of questions, and it's all leading to a better understanding of what he was born with. He's finding comfort in that he'll get to play video games in the hospital while he recovers. 😄 We're hoping to make a little video of him explaining what's going on, so he can share with his friends. We'll count it as a virtual-learning biology lesson, lol!  

I was so nervous for the CT scan yesterday, knowing it was going to require both oral and IV contrast; I was dreading breaking the news to Clay that he'd have to have an IV. He FREAKS over needles. Since Eric had his foot surgery last Friday (he's recovering well so far, just really sore), I was dreading doing the appointment solo. So a few minutes before we left home for the appointment, Eric pulled up some videos to show Clay about the CT machine and the process for getting the contrast and we told him about the IV. Of course, Clay was super upset about it. But, I was able to talk with him the whole ride to the appointments; it helps him so much to have the knowledge of what's going on with every step. 

Thank goodness, I'm pretty sure we got the best nurses in the unit to get him prepped for the scan. They were so good with him, answering alllll of his questions, and when he asked if there was any medicine they could give him so he wouldn't feel the needle, they pulled out a can of numbing spray. That made Clay feel so much better! When it came time for the poke, he winced and had a couple of tears, but he held still and let the nurse do her thing. I almost cried, I was so relieved. He was so brave with the scan. His sense of humor had the nurses rolling and doting over him, as always. If the appointment yesterday was any indicator of how he'll do with surgery, I'd say we're golden. Clayton Cash is a TROOPER and I could not be more proud of him and his amazing SPIRIT.

As always, I am completely overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love and prayers and well-wishes for our family. We are so SO thankful to have such good people cheering our boy on! I'll keep y'all updated. xoxoxo! 

2020 is weird.

Oh hey guys..It’s been a while since I’ve used this space for an update on Clay. Like almost 5 years? Crazy. 

Things have been pretty uneventful, thankfully. Clay’s growing and getting smarter and stronger all the time. He’ll be turning NINE years old in two months! We’ve been pretty cautious with concerns about COVID-19, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t worried about the “what-ifs” if Clay were to catch the virus. With talk of the use of ventilators and ECMO machines to help COVID patients breathe, it all sounds too familiar and we’d rather not repeat that. 

Well, the news we’ve gotten over the past week has not helped my anxieties. What an emotional rollercoaster it’s been..

We went for our 6 month check-up at Shriner’s last week, where we’ve been keeping an eye on Clay’s scoliosis. When the doc showed me the X-rays, I asked if I could take a picture because his anatomy just looks so unbelievably wild. Later that evening, I posted the pic of his X-ray on my Instagram stories, where one of Clay’s former surgeons seen it and sent me a message and said it looked to him like he’d “recurred”. Recurrence or reherniation means the hole in his diaphragm (that he had at birth) has opened up again and his intestines are back up in his chest. 

Here’s the pic for reference: the top one is Clay’s and the bottom is one of a “normal” chest. Wild! 

So on Monday, we had another round of chest X-rays and met with our old friend, Dr. Draus. He said he could see a considerable amount of bowel in the chest, which he said was probably compressing his left lung entirely. They could hear bowel sounds in his chest with the stethoscope. Dang.

Even though he has been doing well and this is something that’s probably happened gradually over time, we discussed the reality that another extensive repair surgery will be needed to put everything back in place. Dr. Draus said he’d have to block off an entire day to spend operating on Clay because, as always, who knows what they’ll find when they get in there. So we tentatively set a surgery date around the end of September. 

We all went home and processed the news and cried, and processed and cried some more. We talked to Clay about everything and after the initial shock and anxieties about surgery, he seems to understand what’s going on and how it could potentially help him in the long run. I’m thankful Eric was able to go with us to that appointment because daddy always knows the best way to cheer him up...On the way home, he made a detour by Game Stop to let him pick out a new controller for his Nintendo and some V-bucks for Fortnite. We told him he’d get all the Fortnite playing time he could want during his recovery and hospital stay so that made things better. That little pick-me-up did the trick for Clay’s spirits 😊

Well, then yesterday morning I get a call from Dr. Draus and he said he had been reviewing Clay’s X-ray again with a radiologist and they were questioning whether his diaphragm has actually recurred; It could be that his left lung is just so small it’s leaving a lot of extra room for things to shift upward and his diaphragm may still be intact, just really “floppy”. So, the latest recommendation is that he will have a CT scan done in the next couple of weeks and we will get better imaging to see what’s really going on in there. 

Whew. 

The good news is that Clay is doing wonderfully and hasn’t shown symptoms of feeling unwell. His breathing is normal (for him), his digestion is regular, we’ve had a recent cardiology visit and his heart is working fine. So in either scenario his body is compensating well. If his bowel is up in his chest and we have to have surgery, we hope that will allow his left lung open up more and will help his breathing so that he won’t get so winded with physical activity. But we’re really hoping we can avoid surgery if possible. 

If his diaphragm is still intact and the bowels have shifted upward because of the extra space his little left lung leaves, that concerns me because of the reality that that *can’t* be fixed. It doesn’t leave much “reserve”, especially, if he were to catch the virus. It’s just truly amazing that he does so well with what he’s got going on on the inside. 

On top of all this, Eric goes for a pretty intensive foot repair surgery next Friday, August 28th, so he will be down and out for the next few weeks with that. 2020 is just weird. 

Y’all just say a prayer for our miracle man and that we get some definitive answers. Our CT scan is scheduled for Monday, August 31, then we will go from there. I’ll try to keep ya updated! 

Love y’all! 

Clay goes to school!

It's been a year...yet again...since I've sat down to update this blog. We now have a little 4 year old man with NO trach, a head full of beautiful hair, and all kinds of spunk.

He has progressed so much since his trach decannulation in June. He talks and talks and talks all. the. time. Lol. He just seems to have so much more confidence...it's great. We decided to wait and see if his trach stoma would close up on its own after decannulation...it didnt.. So we had the revision done about a month ago and it's healed up so nicely!  Now we are officially DONE with the trach saga. It's crazy ain't it? How something can be such an integral part of every day life but after we got rid of the ol' thing we've hardly thought about trach changes, trach care or suction machines since. HALLELUJAH!

Now we're on to big boy things..like SCHOOL! Omg..I'm really having a hard time processing this. His first day is tomorrow! We're starting out slowly..2 hours, 2 times a week.. He's a bit anxious about it but we've really been talking it up and I know he will love it once he gives it a chance. I really feel like he needs the social interaction and the time away from me to help build up his confidence and independence even more. He will do great, I know.

One thing that does worry me is the germs and the crud-catching that comes along with school. A regular ol' cold for a regular kiddo can really take a toll on Claybug..we found that out at the beginning of the year when he caught RSV and we spent a couple of weeks in the hospital and back on the ventilator. I really, realllllly hope nothing hits him that hard this year..it's a different ballgame without the trach and the "easy" access for extra help. Fingers crossed we can sail through the season unscathed.

I feel like there's so much more to update on but that's all I'm getting to tonight. Gotta get ready for our big day tomorrow!!! 

Peace and love, dear friends!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Clay!

Clay-bug is three years old! My goodness, where does time go?!

So much great progression in the past year. Clay did lots of catching up and growing and learning and exploring this year.
-First of all...We had NO major illnesses or surgeries or hospital stays! NONE! Praise the Lord.
-He's up to 32 lbs now, which is almost 10 lbs more than he weighed last year! He's 3 feet tall, too. He just looks so grown up these days.

Plugging his trach to say, "Cheeeese" :)

-Clay started walking all on his own in March and continues to get so much stronger (and confident!). I'm just so proud of him.

-We took a family vacation in May to Tennessee, then a week later we left to visit family in Cape Cod, then we stopped by Nelsonville Music Festival on our way back home. It was such a great trip! Clay had a blast getting to see & do so many new things & we he got to meet new family... he still talks about riding the choo-choo at Dollywood...and he talks about Nanny, and the ocean and Sandy's big dog, and his cousin Le-bi (Levi), lol. We had a great time.

One of Clay's favorite things: riding the Trolly in Tennesee with Nan & Papaw

On the beach in Cape Cod (it was cold!)

 -We played lots and lots of volleyball this summer, and Clay loooooved that too. Our friends are great entertainment and Clay will keep them busy fetching balls as long as they are willing, lol! He'll wear ya out with his ball-playing endurance. He now knows how to bump, set, hit and serve a volleyball though. I'm telling ya'll...he's a natural.

Learning mad volleyball skillz from this crazy bunch!

 -He loves going to Story Hour at the Library...I think he likes the tradition of going to play at the park afterwards even better :) He LOVES the swing!

Playing at the Library. Puzzles suited him just fine until he spotted the kid's computer!

-He talks SOOOO well. His vocabulary is ever-expanding and he asks questions alllllll the time. Mommy, why? Mommy, what you do-nin? Mommy, where you go-nin? Mommy, mom, momma, mommy, mom! Hahaha. He just amazes me with how much he understands and observes and REMEMBERS! Kid's got the memory of an elephant (is that how that saying goes?)... Kinda scary, really..lol!

-Here's a big life changer: Clay is now a big brother!!! Miss Oaklee Mae was born on August 26th. She is perfect and he is quite proud :) He likes to show her off to everyone we meet...I think he likes that it takes some attention off of him, lol. He has done so well with the new addition to the family. I was afraid he'd be jealous and extra-clingy to me, but if anything it's made him more independent.
He'll help me out by getting diapers and throwing them away in the trash can. He also makes sure her swing is always swinging and playing music while she's in there...He doesn't want to hold her or love on her but I do catch him rubbing on her head and checking her out a little more closely when he thinks I'm not looking. ;)

-Big boy is totally potty trained and has been for a while now. He's starting to want to pee standing up though, so it's getting a little messy but he does really well for the most part. He can now pull his own pants up and down so that's a big thing for him, too! 
 -Clay looooooves to go to Nan & Papaw's house and is a-ok with me leaving him there to play while I go to the store or if me & Eric go on a date. He even stayed all night with them a few weekends ago and didn't shed one tear! It's no wonder though, they way they spoil that boy! He's ruint, I tell ya.
-Most of his days spent around the house he's either watching Curious George, asking to watch George, or talking about the things that George does..lol! He is obsessed. The show is quite adorable though. I learn things from watching it, so I don't feel quite as guilty about letting it occupy him...okay, I do feel guilty...but it helps me out so much!

It's just amazing how our little miracle man is developing. Someone ran into us out in town the other day and was amazed with how well he's doing...they said, "well, he's just growing right out of it ain't he?!"...I'd say he is, thank God!


We have another sleep study scheduled for November 18th to see about trach decannulation. If things have improved since the last one that was done in February, the plan is to do a bronchoscope and check his airway then we will decannulate! I really feel like he doesn't need that ol' thing anymore. I think when it's gone, he'll thrive even more. Hopefully with the eating-by-mouth-situation, especially! He is getting more and more interested in food but still doesn't like textures. I can imagine trying to swallow chunks of food with a trach in would make a person gag and have an aversion, though. So my fingers and toes are crossed for trach decannulation in a couple months! Say a prayer for us, y'all.

We're having Mr. Clayton Cash a birthday party at Nan & Papaw's house on Sunday around 3. We're doing a little costume party, so Clay will be dressing up as George...I put together a Man in the Yellow Hat costume for Eric too, lol! We'll have chili and hotdogs and birthday cake, and will be doing a hayride with Papaw's tractor...Clay is so excited about it! Come on out and join us!

So, so thankful for another year with this precious boy. He is such a joy.
Year #2 was a fantastic year... I think year #3 will be even better :)

Lots of love to you all, dear friends! XoXOXo

A giant, rambling update about the past 4 months!

I'm a little ashamed that it's been 4 months since I've updated Clay's blog. But, I did just realize there was an entry from December that I started writing that didn't get posted..(!)

So, let's just pretend we're in December and this is what has been happening:
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Clay's bronchoscope procedure he had last month went well...airways were open & clear, still evidence of immaturity, but nothing out of the 'normal' so we were free to go home a couple hours later

We had a follow-up appointment this past week and were given the okay to down-size his trach (he's at a 4.5, with plans to move to a 4.0 soon) and we were also told to start plugging trials. A couple hours during his awake time, we plug his trach so it's not being used at all. He has done very well with this! Coughing is different for him and freaks him out a little, but I think he'll get used to it. I also think it will be easier when the trach is out of his airway all together. We're waiting to hear our appointment date for a sleep study, which should be happening this month...but with the holidays so close, it may be next year before that happens. Either way's fine...They just want to observe Clay sleeping with his trach plugged before decannulation. If the sleep study looks good, we will have an overnight PICU stay so he can be observed without the trach at all!!!! NO TRACH! Hallelujah! or "Alllelullla", as Clay says ;)

Since we've been plugging his trach, we get to hear his voice quite a lot. All his grunts and squeals and funny words.. what Joyful, Joyful noises they are!

Still no real progress on the eating-by-mouth-objective. It's just been hard for me to get on board with the techniques we've been using, mainly the bribery. With our weekly speech therapy sessions, we will sit at the table with paper & markers (the boy loves to draw), and we tell him if he wants to draw, he has to take a bite of the food (which is usually yogurt or something with that thin consistency)...Clay will eventually take a bite (and by bite I mean he will lick the back of the spoon, with mouth wide open), then he'll make an awful face and then finally get to draw with the marker he chose. We'll do this five or six times until he's had enough. I just hate the fact that he's not enjoying it. I want it to be something he enjoys, but I don't really have any alternative suggestions. If any of my special-needs momma friends want to suggest something that worked for them, please let me know!

We are making some progress with physical therapy...I can tell he's getting stronger everyday. He actually stood up completely on his own a couple of weeks ago...In the middle of his room, he just stood straight up and then stood there unassisted for a good minute or so! It's not happened since but my mom & dad were there to witness it, so I've got proof. He's still got some hip-strengthening to do, but it won't be long til he's walking. Another huge thing for him is that he's been getting on his knees! He will get in crawling stance, but then will sit back down and scoot on his bottom. Hey, we'll take what we can get :)
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End of December post
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Now, fast-forward to March 13, 2014 and here's what's been happening!:

One of the things that I'm most happy about is the fact that Clay is gaining weight!! He's really filling out and I can just imagine every tissue in his body getting healthier and stronger. He's up to 29lbs now!! He was at 23.5lbs before his Nissen Fundoplication surgery back in October, so I'm sooooooo soooooo relieved to see those extra 5lbs on his bones. You can just tell he has much more strength all around, but especially in his legs. He's not walking independently just yet but it's not 'cause he can't, it's 'cause he won't. Lil turkey just needs more confidence and he'll be walking everywhere. We traded in our gait trainer for a walker in physical therapy, so he has a little walker he uses to get places. It's so stinkin cute.

Another praise for my big boy: he's doing so well with the potty training! He is very enthusiastic to go pee pee in the potty..it seems half of my day is spent in the bathroom, lol. He does have occasional accidents when he has on his undies or pull-ups, but he does perfect when he's running around naked. He has used the big potty a couple times here at home, but doesn't want to use the big potty anywhere else just yet. Regardless, I'm so proud of him! Our diaper usage has dropped dramatically... just in time for another one!!

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that news--Clay's gonna be a big brother!!!!!!! I'm about 16 weeks along right now, and we are very excited! We go in a couple weeks for an ultrasound to find out the sex and take a peek at how things are brewing. We found out about Clay's CDH at my 18 week ultrasound, so to say I'm a bit anxious is an understatement, but I've been trying my best not to stress about it. There's only a 2% chance of CDH reoccurring, so we've been saying lots of prayers for a perfectly healthy baby. I've just got a feeling it's a girl, so I'm excited to see if I'm right ;)

Okay, now back to Clay-news...
So, as far as the trach decannulation saga goes: after the bronchoscope and downsizing of the trach to a 4.0, we stayed overnight for a sleep study back in February (on Valentine's Day!). The purpose was to observe him overnight with his trach plugged, meaning it's completely closed off so he couldn't breathe in or out through his trach at all. This is not something we ever do while he's sleeping, so I was anxious to see how he'd tolerate it. Well, the sleep study went leaps & bounds better than I thought it would. They had the awfullest amount of electrodes hooked up to him and that sensor across his lip and those belts around his belly... I figured he'd be tearing them off and restless all night, but he fell asleep relatively quickly and slept okay throughout the night. He is such a well mannered and content little man, I don't know why I doubt him, lol!
I hated not having any monitors in the room with us because I couldn't see how he was doing number-wise! But I asked the RT a couple times and he said his oxygen levels were in the low 90's the majority of the time, so that was good news. Our wake-up call came at 5:30am that next morning, so we were both kinda grumpy when that happened, but hopeful for good results.
Buttttttt, it's not looking so promising as of now.
We had a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist at the sleep clinic today, which also happens to be the same doctor we've seen regularly in the pulmonary clinic for the past year. So when he asked me, "who do you normally see over in the clinic?", I wasn't too happy to reply, "umm, you do". Granted, we have seen a different doctor before, but he didn't remember THE Clayton Cash?!?! Ha! All jokes aside, I feel like we should have a closer relationship to Clay's pulmonologist than we do currently and I've felt this for a while, but this visit today confirmed as much. Maybe I'm just being bitter about the results he gave too, I don't know. I just have a lot of questions and I'm about to start rambling (even more), so bear with me...
So, the results from the sleep study showed that Clay's oxygen saturation levels were average 93%, which is good. But he desatted a few times throughout the night, spending a total of 20 minutes below 90. Turns out, those desats came when Clay was in his REM stage of sleep. So, the doctor explained to me that those are apnea episodes, more specifically, most of them were hypopnea episodes. So in the hypopnea episodes Clay doesn't necessarily stop breathing all together, he just breathes more shallow & slowly which would cause his oxygen levels to drop. According to the charts he gave me, during Clay's total sleep time he had 4 episodes of obstructive sleep apnea and 34 episodes of hypopnea. Nearly 40 apnea episodes throughout the night, when I have never been concerned with Clay's sleeping patterns? It's just kinda crazy to me...
After a good ol' Google search tonight, I read that hypopnea episodes could be caused by partial obstructions in the airway....welllll, wouldn't a plugged trach be considered a partial obstruction in the airway?! Makes sense to me. Not to mention, the RT on duty that night in the sleep study had a very hard time getting the electrodes to pick up on Clay's noggin. He even told me that they may not get accurate readings of his sleep stages because he was having such a time with them. Of course, I'm remembering all of this now, after I nodded my head in agreement with the doctor earlier and had no questions at the end of the appointment....
I don't mean to discredit his concerns at all--Lord knows I don't want the trach to come out too soon and cause undo stress to Clay! What he explained to me makes perfect sense, but it's all a new concept and I need time to process, I guess... (This blog really helps with that, ha). There's just a lot of questions I have about all this business...so if anyone out there has any advice or insights for me, I welcome it with open arms!
We also discussed possibly putting him back on supplemental oxygen at night. His sats are usually in the low 90's...Like right now, he's satting 91% while he sleeps. Those aren't bad numbers, but because of his history of pulmonary hypertension and everything else, I've often wondered if we shouldn't help him out a little. So, we're looking into getting the oxygen concentrator back and I'm totally advocating for that. (Our med supply company came and picked up the ventilators and the oxygen concentrator a couple of months ago...so maybe I jumped the gun on the Os!).

There's lots more I probably should include in this update but it's 1am and I can hardly hold my eyes open, so I'm gonna call it quits. Maybe I can get around to a post with cute pics and more fun stuff next time...I'll TRY to not wait 4 months, ha!

Peace & Love, dear friends! We love you all!