I woke Mommy up bright and early this morning at 4:15! It wasn't too bad, though, because by 5:30 my parents needed to be up anyway to get ready to go to Stanford for my follow up ENT appointment. We were on the road by 7:00 and a little early for our 10:20 appointment. I played in the waiting area quietly until we got called back to the room around 10:45. A few minutes later, Dr Messner, my ENT came in to talk with my parents. She tried to look in my mouth despite my best efforts to keep her out of it!
At this point, I am not a good candidate to get my trach removed. Despite my jaw distraction less than a year ago, I am quickly outgrowing it and my jaw is still very small. Overall, I am also not very big which means my airway isn't growing as fast. I also don't eat much successfully and won't wear my speaking valve as much as I should. Dr Messner would like me to be a little older and a little bigger before trying to take the trach out. Dr Messner recommended that I go ahead and have my hand surgery in May and then come back in June for a follow up. Since I am seeing Dr Schendel who did my jaw surgery for a follow up appointment next week, Dr Messner would like to see if he wants to do another jaw distraction this summer. If so, when they take the distractors out she could have a scope performed while I am under anesthesia already to see what my airway is looking like. If he wants to wait on the jaw distraction until next summer then it's unlikely I will grow enough before this summer to get the trach out without another distraction. My parents weren't really surprised by what she had to say but Mommy had been holding out hope that maybe my trach could come out this summer so she was pretty disappointed at the news. I don't mind my trachy so if I have to have it for a little longer I don't mind!
Tonight Mommy should be able to get a good night's sleep since Daddy will be my night nurse. Let's see what trouble I can get in to!
Peyton Nicole Smith
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