Closed stoma question

[preki]

Well...as it always is, a bit of good news goes with the not-so-good...

So Milan's always been a bit gurgley since the decannulation, but today I noticed that he seemed to be coughing a little more than usual, and just generally more goopy in his upper airway. And then I realized that his neck's been dry all day, so it looks like the stoma closed on its own sometime in the middle of the night, which is great, since he'll have plenty more surgeries with his hip thing and anything we can cross off the list is fab.

That said, I am a little concerned with all the coughing/sputtering he's been doing. Anyone else go through this? Is he just getting used to everything having only one way up & one way down, or should I try to make the pulmonology appointment happen a little sooner than we'd planned?

[Whitney]

Kari, this is one of the more frustrating "drawbacks" to decanning. Â*Does it seem more like he is trying to adjust with swallowing his secretions or is he getting sick? Â*I know-million dollar question. Â*Is he retracting or needing O2? Â*Do you have a pulsox? Â*Is is heart rate up? Â*Does he seem more lethargic? Â*Alex definitely had a heckuva time adjusting and coughed/gagged for a good few months. Â*Once the stoma closed more and that "outlet" for secretions disappeared, it seemed to exacerbate his coughing... Â*

It DOES get better. Â*Alex went through the days initially coughing and gagging nearly all day. Â*Now, he only coughs/gags if he is sick and has more secretions to deal with or if he has a sore throat I reckon. Â*If you feel more comfortable having the doc check him over and make sure he is not really sick, it might not be a bad idea. Â*I think Hannah's mom just went through this last week with her recently decan and coughing. Â*She ended up with pneumonia if I remember correctly. Â*I hope Milan is just trying to adjust! Â*Keep us posted Â*

[sandra]

Brian was the same way. You could just hear all the junk. He had to learn how to have a productive cough. It took him a bit of time to stop sounding gurggly.

[preki]

Ugh! Thank you! I was concerned, now I know what to watch for. We're going in for flu shots & vaccines today anyway, so I'll just have her take a peek while we're there and make sure it's just the secretions and not some foul bug starting up. His heart rate's good, his sats are great, but the sputtering really makes me jumpy, and he was snoring more than usual last night. Usually he lets out a couple'a honks and then repositions himself, but I had to get up & reposition him 4 or 5 times in the middle of the night. Yikes!

[babyhugger]

I hope our little buddy is feeling much better soon! Let us know what the doc thinks, please...

[JWorthington]

Hope it's nothing too serious

Julie