Saturday, November 12, 2011

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011





Dr Norlin called and my strep infection has returned which is the reason for my stinky trach.  So I am starting into another 10 days of antibiotics to try to kick it for good.  Meanwhile, we got back our family photos we had taken a few weeks ago. 

Peyton Nicole Smith

Monday, October 31st, 2011

What a day!  After stops at Mommy's work, University Hospital, Daddy's work, Grandma Marilyn's work and trick or treating in the neighborhood I ended up with several buckets worth of candy - and didn't eat a single piece!  To make sure Mommy and Daddy didn't end up eating it all it was eventually all shipped off to Daddy's work where the guys in the warehouse were very appreciative.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

After two months in preschool the inevitable has happened - I got my first cold.  Although I went to school Tuesday, I was not feeling so hot.  Last week Mommy had made an appointment with my pediatrician for tonight because of a bad trach smell.  Unfortunately, in the throes of a cold, I was coughing up so many secretions that the trach smell was gone.  Dr Norlin went ahead and got a speciman to culture, but we'll have to see if anything grows.  Even though I have a cold it seems pretty run of the mill and some pedialyte and Tylenol seems to be controlling it for now.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011


Jackson and I have memberships to the aquarium and despite going lots of times this year we never get tired of going back.  So we met up this morning a soon as it opened and ran around the place together.  Jackson was disappointed that the frog area was under construction but soon it will have sea otters instead.

After going home for naps we met back up for dinner for Uncle Jason's birthday at Bonzai, a Japanese steakhouse.  Jackson, Traiton and I didn't really like all the fire but thought the chef throwing shrimp at the parents was fun! 

Peyton Nicole Smith

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Meet the newest "member" of our family!  It is the iPad 2 with the iAdapter case and the Proloquo2go app.  That's right, Mommy put in a request to the insurance company and it was approved!  A few weeks ago, we went to the Apple store in the mall and got the iPad.  Then, Mommy ordered the iAdapter case.  It took a few weeks to get it but it was worth the wait.  I love my iPad and anybody I meet I am proud to announce that I have one.  Most are just a little amazed that I am barely four and I have one! 

I am a little ahead of the curve with this technology so it is going to take some time to get assistance from the school district on how to incorporate it into the classroom.  Mommy is also going to have to read the manual and figure out how to customize the app for me.  Despite the work ahead, it is a huge accomplishment to have gotten this covered by insurance and it will be a totally cool way to communicate with friends, family and peers!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Mommy in the making!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Saturday, October 15th, 2011












OK so if you have never been to Cornbelly's it is awesome!!!  (And my parents even thought it was pretty cool).  We were there right as they opened with Ava and her parents, Ethan and his dad, and Jackson and his parents.  And we were all pretty overwhelmed with all there was to do.  It was perfect weather, and from pig races to a corn maze to a cow train we just couldn't get enough and we still didn't get to do everything.  We definately want to go back one more time before they close for the year.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Happy Birthday to my Daddy!  To celebrate the big 36, I spent the night at my grandparents while Mommy and Daddy went to see the Foo Fighters in concert.  My parents stopped and had dinner first and then watched as folks started to arrive.  They were suprised at the diversity of the crowed - it wasn't just oldies like them!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Guess what I am going to be for Halloween?

Saturday, October 8th, 2011


They are pretty fuzzy but you can see that my Daddy was celebrating a birthday!  Karen's parents were in town from Inman, Nebraska so we went to dinner at Karen's tonight.  And yes, Karen put 36 candles on the cheesecake!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

A note from Mommy:

After four years of talking to surgeons, pediatricians, ENT's and pulmonologists you would think I would be an expert on Peyton's airway (or lack thereof).  When Peyton had her bronchoscopy a few months back, Dr Muntz was clear that her airway was still very small but didn't get into much detail and I was anxious to get back to recovery to see her.  Today when we saw Dr Muntz I felt I had a little more time to ask some questions.  The original reason for the appointment was to discuss the abutement surgery for Peyton's BAHA's.  When he indicated that he doesn't do these any longer and to see one of the two others in the practice that specialize in it - it presented an opportunity to get in a general discussion about Peyton's airway.

Dr Muntz presented a check list to decannulation:

1. Seeing the larynx during bronchoscopy
2. Daytime capping trials
3. Nightime capping trials

When Dr Muntz did Peyton's bronchoscopy this summer, not only was her airway small, he could not even visualize her larynx and it was almost impossible to get the tube in.  So when he is talking small he means very very small.  For kids with micrognathia there are usually two ways to "grow" the airway, one being the jaw distraction and one being general growth of the child.  Since Peyton is not even a year out from her jaw distraction, what did that mean?  Dr Muntz has treated a handful of patients while in St Louis (13 years) and since being at Primary Children's - maybe 15 in total.  And one thing he has seen is that Nager patients don't respond the same way to distraction as other children with micrognathia - the results just aren't the same.  Nager patients are unique to themselves (something I seem to keep hearing).    So what about general growth of the child - what should we expect with that?  Peyton is really small for her age and each child of course is different but kids who grow into a bigger airway through general growth of their bodies he felt happened around 8 or so. 

Dr Muntz said with the airway we want to watch it every year because one year he may not be able to see the larynx and then all of a sudden the next year it is there.  He also wanted to clarify that there have been children decannulated that there larynx was not visable.  We'll get to that in a minute....

The second requirement is daytime capping and the ability for Peyton to cough up her secretions so that she doesn't develop pneumonia.  Peyton can already cap for long stretches during the day so we know she can tolerate capping.  Another good test would be to have her capped during a cold to see if she can get everything up and out.

The last requirement is nightime capping.  Since we are not anywhere close to completing surgeries, Dr Muntz is in no rush to complete one.  But if surgeries were done, her daytime capping continues as it is and she failed her nightime sleep study it doesn't mean she could not be decannulated.  His recommendation for most kids is that if the only issue with the airway is sleeping, he would trade a trach for decannulation and CPAP.  When I brought up the low compliance rate for adults with CPAP he was quick to agree - he said somewhere around 75% of adults using CPAP are not compliant.  However, he felt that children were actually the opposite - he estimated 75% of kids were compliant espesically if they were old enough to understand the trade off - trach or cpap. 

So what we are left with is that the airway may grow enough on it's own or it may not.  It may require additional jaw distractions or it may not.  If we get to a point where most of Peyton's surgeries are completed, she is completely stable and capping trials during the day are still going well but she is failing a sleep study there is a possibility of removing the trach. But it would be risky if an emergent need for an airway arose.

Knowing what I now know about Nager kids and Peyton in general, I can pretty much bet we are going to be stuck making that very difficult decision in the future.  There is no crystal ball to tell us if there would be an emergent need for an airway in the future.  We also can't rely on outcomes for surgeries such as jaw distractions based on kids that do not have Nager Syndrome - these kids are just not comparable.  We are blazing our own trail with not much more than educated guesses from doctor's to help direct us along the way. 

On the way home I wasn't crying or angry - but I still have a lot of emotional investment in getting her trach out and I wasn't sure why.  And then it hit me.  For some reason I believe that decannulation is my personal responsibility and if it doesn't happen it is ultimately my personal failure.  As a result of today's conversation with Dr Muntz I finally have a sense that none of this is really in my control.  Ok I know that sounds funny - it never really has been in my control - but I don't think I have really believed that before now.  In the back of my mind if I got her to the right doctors at the right time for the right surgeries I could make it happen.  Today driving home it occurred to me that despite getting her to the right doctors at the right time for the right surgeries her body may just not ever allow for a decannulation and there is not a damn thing I or anyone else can do about it.  You may think that was a devestating concept but just the opposite - although it was a very sobering thought - I also felt some weight lifting off my shoulders.  So there is a new mantra running through my head now - It is not my fault she has a trach and it won't be my fault if she can't get it out.  And someday it may be her mantra as well - It is not my fault I have a trach and it won't be my fault if I can't get it out. 

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

 




With a bad weather weekend coming up, Jackson, Ethan, Ava and I made our mommies take us to Wheeler Farm this weekend instead.  It was a beautiful fall morning and we got to go through a corn maze, go on a wagon ride and pick out pumpkins from the pumpkin patch together.  Halloween can't come soon enough!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

I was just all tuckered out tonight!  I missed my nap because I had an appointment at the dysphagia clinic today.  Mommy looks forward to these appointments because it is an opportunity to get accurate height and weight measurements and discuss my growth.  My parents and grandparents have all been saying that it seems like I have gotten bigger and they were right!  I weighed in at 28 lbs. 7 ozs. and I am 37 1/2 inches tall.  In the grand scheme of things I am still pretty small - only about the 7th percentile for girls my age - but I am keeping right on my growth curve so everyone was happy.  Dr O'Gorman recalled the first time she saw me about a year ago and I was super skinny and now she is pleased to see that I am filling out - so it is not just my family's imagination.  To try to keep up with my activity level I need to have my day feeds bumped up 10 cc's but no big changes to my care plan which is good.

Because I am on the petite side, my Mommy wondered how long before I would meet the 40 lb requirement to move to a booster seat in the car.  My dietician, Marie, checked against my growth curve and it looks like somewhere around 6-7 years of age.  Until then I am stuck with a car seat!

As a special treat, Mommy and I stopped by the Halloween store on our way home today.  Although I am dead set on wearing Jackson's elephant costume from last year, I still wanted to go look at costumes.  I had a lot of fun roaming the aisles and I am convinced Halloween is just days away, with Christmas close on it's heels!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Saturday, September 24th, 2011



It was time for the HopeKids Wasatch Adventure.  Team Princess Peyton was me, Mommy, Grandma and Jackson.  Mommy was there right at 9 am when registration opened but the race did not begin until 10:30 so that left plenty of time for Mommy and Grandma to keep Jackson and I entertained.  Shortly before the race Leo the Real lion and Swoops the Ute eagle showed up.  I am not a big fan of mascots and insisted that Mommy keep them in sight at all times - I didn't want them sneaking up on me! 

When race time began, Jackson decided he wasn't in the mood so Mommy and I went by ourselves.  We decided to do the 1 mile adventure walk rather than the 5 K.  It was designed just for the kids because every few hundred feet there would be games set up we could play and win prizes.  It was a great walk as far as I was concerned, but since Mommy carried me pretty much the whole way I'm not sure she agrees.

After we finished the race, Jackson and I had some time to play on the bounce houses before it was time to head home for a nap.


After a good nap we got into the car to drive to Lindon for Lily's Fundraiser for CCA.  I had such a great time playing with Lily and all the other children with craniofacial conditions and my parents had a great BBQ dinner. We are going to make this an annual event.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Monday, September 19th, 2011



Thanks for all who have donated to HopeKids for the Wasatch Adventure 5K.  My team has raised $306 towards my $500 goal.  The race is on Saturday so time is running short to donate. Please help me reach my goal!

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/princesspeyton/3rdannualhopekidswasatchadventure2011

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Last night, my parents dropped me and my furry brothers off at Grandma and Papa Smith's.  This morning they left early to head to the airport.  Mommy is presented at a work conference and Daddy decided to join her. They will be gone until the end of the week.  Although my Daddy has spent the occasional night away and Mommy traveled a few years ago, they have only spent a night away from me together a few times in the last year.  To have them both gone for almost a week is a new experience for all of us.  Tonight Grandma and Papa gave me a bath and a trach change and sent my parents the picture to assure them I was doing just fine!  Although I have asked my parents a few times on the phone to come pick me up they know I am having a great time.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Friday, September 16th, 2011











HopeKids had a night at the Utah State Fair tonight.  Despite rain, my parents had gotten me all excited to see the animals and so they crossed their fingers it would all work out.  Uncle Jeff came with us, too.  (He doesn't mind going on all the rides with me so he is a great guy to have around!)  The drizzly rain soon turned into pouring rain so we waited in the car until it was time to meet up outside the gates.  With the weather and the traffic it took almost 1/2 hour before we were able to make it in but by then the rain was starting to slow down.  The first stop was a pony ride - my favorite!  Then it was on to the animals - chickens, bunnies, goats, cows and pigs.  We probably could have stopped there and I would have been happy but then Uncle Jeff talked my parents into letting me go on the rides.  First up - the Tilt O Whirl!  While Jeff and I twirled my parents caught glimpses of me laughing hysterically.  Despite the wet rides, I rode the hot air balloons, helicopters and cars and I loved them all.  Daddy hadn't brought a jacket and Uncle Jeff was wearing shorts and we all started to get cold so we left a few hours in.  So glad we braved the rain!

Peyton Nicole Smith