keeping my son's trach in!!

[p's mom]

P has been a trach puller for about a year now. Off and on...not constantly!!! LOL!!!

He can pull it out with any ties on him. Twill, velcro, ribbon, chains...anything. He's superman!! He goes right to the stoma and viola.... flicks it out. It used to terrify me. I was freaking out a lot. But....this is how we learned that P's airway was becoming more stable. We also learned he could tolerate the trach out for short periods of time. ( I'm not implying anything for your son, I just wanted to share our experience.) After a scope they (his ENT) even lengthened his trach from a neo to a ped. and said "he won't be able to pull it out, just watch over him the next couple of days and make sure it stays in". Guess what about 2 hours after that conversation, at home...yep you guessed it he pulled it out!!
I wanted to croak!!!

The thing that I learned with him is that NOT to freak out in front of him, or yell and scream. That seemed to promote him doing it. I tried to just calmly walk up to him and undo the ties and put it back in and tie it back again. Then walked away. This seemed to do the trick. I know it sounds like that's too easy and wouldn't work. But for him it did. I think he was looking for a rise and something to do. LOL!!! Also the good ole "redirection thing" may help. Sometimes if he couldn't get a secretion out he'd just pull it also. So i'd change the trach and he seemed to be fine after that.

Hope some of my book I've written here today might help.
LOL!! Take care

P's MOM

Shoelaces work well, like the twill tape. Shoelaces come in all kinds of cool colors and designs to match outfits... and you can double knot them!!! The kids I take care of usually only pull them out when they have a plug, or when they're around someone "new" who might think it's cool to see a trach pulled out and put back in again. Also- we put trachs on almost all the dolls and stuffed anilmals at our house so the kids felt a little better. Just cut the end off and tie it to the neck. Maybe Eli can pull their trachs out instead of his own! LOL! Good luck.