Jack just finished up with his exploratory scope surgery. It went very well and we are waiting for him to get settled back into his room. There is no appearance of scarring or long-term damage. There is swelling around his vocal cords, which is what is causing the trouble with extubation. They replaced his tube with a smaller size, to allow room around the area for swelling to go down. The plan is to continue steroids and extubate Monday. If he extubates well, the tube will remain out and we'll move forward. Should he not successfully extubate, there will be two options, depending on how he fails. The major option is a trachoeostomy, which is extremely invasive and he would come home with it for months. The other option is to cut the cartilage around his vocal cords to open the airway up more. There is a technical name for the procedure, but I don't remember it now. So...we are going to hope that all goes well Monday and he can be tube free! At least we now know what to expect come Monday and we also know that there will be some final decision made, rather than another wait and see game. I think our 5 minute wait is up...so we're going to go say hi to our little man. :)
Update:
Jack is continuing to rest from his big trip. I just finished rounds with the doctors and it is agreed upon that they will attempt to extubate Monday. The less invasive procedure we discussed with ENT this morning is
http://www.tracheostomy.com/resources/surgery/cricoid.htm. For today and through the weekend the best we can do is just keep him calm and the tube in place. Happy thoughts for Monday!
He now has a nasal tube, which will give his little mouth a break
He has been in this same position since he got settled back in from the OR
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