Friday's news

Friday morning Cosima had her surgery for the tracheotomy. They weren't able to remove the staples in her leg at this time but they are able to do this procedure in her room at a later time. For most of the morning and early afternoon she was asleep and groggy when she did start to wake up from the anesthesia.

She is now not breathing through her mouth anymore but through a breathing tube attached to her throat. This can take a bit of time to adjust to but after a short while Cosima seemed to adjust to it and become more comfortable.

There is a single tube attached to a "plug" in her neck, just below her esophagus. This bypasses her esophagus and delivers oxygen directly to her air passage way (to her lungs) through the trachea. This device blocks the 'flap' we normally use to control the flow of air into our lungs or fluids/solids into our stomach - it is controlled manually like a switch. She still has a feeding tube through her nose and saliva tube in her mouth to help, but the air is direct now through the trachea. The Doctor was quick to remind us that this is not a permanent operation. She will likely have a scar from the operation, but it will be removed as she becomes more capable to breath on her own. Overall it is supposed to much easier to breath this way and her lungs should not have to work as hard.

When asked if she would be able to breathe on her own without the ventilator the doctor indicated maybe as soon as this weekend they would start to look at this. Initially they will try for shorter intervals of time off the ventilator, since the risk is far lower now and if she is having difficultly she can be immediately be give assistance back with the ventilator without complications since she now has a trach.

Cosima will not be able to talk while connected to the respirator, as this blocks the air passage way and "air pressure" from reaching her throat and therefore there is no air to move or make sound with. This makes sense if you think about it. Our ability to speak and make sounds is heavily dependent upon air pressure. Without air, there is no sound.

It was confirmed yesterday that Cosima has pneumonia. They had tested for it and the tests showed she did have it. She was starting to run a bit of a fever and she is on antibiotics to treat it. Already her fever has come down so the antibiotics seem be working.