January 8th, 2011 by Conor

Danny went through Tracheostomy earlier tonight. For those people out there that don’t know what that is, it’s an opening surgically created through the neck into the trachea (windpipe) to allow direct access to the breathing tube. This is a surgical procedure in which a tube is placed through the opening to provide an airway and to remove secretions from the lungs. Breathing is done through the tracheostomy tube rather than through the nose and mouth. — I might have consulted/plagiarized Johns Hopkins for this description.

Although this sounds like a downgrade in his status this move was done more or less as a preventative measure as well as an aide down the road. This procedure served two main purposes at the moment. 1) to clean and remove secretions from the airway and 2) to more easily, and hopefully more safely, deliver oxygen to the lungs.

Over the next week or two it is helpful because it will help to prevent infection of the lungs and hopefully, if all goes as planned it is statistically easier for a patient to ween off of the ventilator through the trache tube than it’s previous location in his mouth. Not to mention, it’s less irritating for Danny and he looks much better without the ventilator tubes coming out of his mouth.