Oh, Autumn

This is what a trach looks like when it's been ripped into two pieces. Autumn pulls her vent circuit off to communicate to us in different ways. I guess her nurse put her vent on too tight and when Autumn went to pull her circuit off she pulled hard enough that she ripped her trach into 2 pieces to get the vent off. The tube piece was still in her trachea so she could still breathe and the other pice was still hooked onto the vent circuit. The nurse came to show me...I walked in and Autumn was smiling so big and playing with the metal coil hanging out the end of the tube. I did a trach change and she's fine. I didn't even know that could happen because it's made of strong silicone but Autumn proved it can with some strong muscles. New thing to watch out for now.

So, that happened last night and then this evening we had a near drowning episode with her. Daddy was giving her and Gage a bath while I got Autumn's after bath and trach care supplies ready. I went into the bathroom to let James know I was ready for her and he was rinsing her hair. She leans forward in the tub sometimes but the bath water was too high so when she leaned forward her HME went into the water and filled with water and went down her trach tube. (An HME attaches to the end of the trach for moisture but we only use it during bath to block water better when she splashes). I noticed she was blueish and she started coughing at that time. James pushed her up more when I said something and then she was getting a darker blue. I got her out and took her to her room and started bagging her. James got her oxygen going and she threw up the water. She was getting pink and then went blue again and looked sleepy (like she was about to go completely unconsious). I bagged her again and she became pink again. James suctioned her and got her vent on her. We heard Gage yelling from the tub so James went to check on him. Apparently, Autumn had pooped in the water right before I took her out and Gage was standing in the tub trying to stay away from her waste and yelling to be rescued. James took him upstairs to take a 2nd bath. ;)

I finished getting Autumn dressing, trach care done, and then did some CPT and gave her a breathing treatment to hopefully get out any other water that may still be in her lungs and hopefully to prevent anything from causing sickness. James felt bad about it but he did not realize that her HME was underwater and that the water had been too high. We have both now been guilty of making a simple mistake and causing Autumn to almost drown. I did it back in 2009 when water in her tubing went down her trach after a bath and we had to call an ambulance because she was out for almost 2 mins. She was fine though once we got to the hospital and the x-rays showed no water in her lungs. It's very easy for things like this to happen when bathing a trach child and that is why many stay away from pools because it does not take much water to cause a huge problem...just have to always be aware and alert.

It still amazes me how God takes over in these situations. This time I did not panic and my heart never raced. I was clear headed and calm the entire time. I guess experience helps of knowing exactly what to do to in these situations. It still blows my mind how one minute we are bagging Autumn and less than 30 mintues later sitting as a family watching American Idol and it's normal for our family. It's strange because I never thought God would call our family to deal with these kind of things but He has and has equipped us with everything we need to be able to care for Autumn and all the "suprises" she throws our way.