Day 690 - James Meets Family From NJ 👨‍👩‍👧👨‍👩‍👧 & Mom's 1st Emergency Trach Change ⚠️

Sunday, November 20th, 2022

Today is Aunt Robin's Birthday! 🥳🎂🎉

In the afternoon, Dad's family from New Jersey stopped by as they were nearby at Disney World. James got to meet his Aunt Debra, Uncle Frank, Cousin Abigail, Cousin Gabrielle, Cousin John, and Baby Jordyn. Jordyn is technically James' cousin 1st cousin once removed but most people would probably just say 2nd cousin. 😂

James and Jordyn played nicely together sharing toys and even dancing to some music. Cousin Gabrielle gave James a much needed haircut 💇🏻‍♂️ and showed Mom how to use the clippers. ✂️ So cute! Afterwards we went out to dinner and James really needed a nap. 

When we got home we still had about an hour of packing up before getting on the road to Jacksonville. Mom noticed that the pulse ox alarm was going off and James sounded and looked like he was having trouble breathing. We noticed that he was pulling at his 2x2 split gauze under his trach and it was bunched up in a ball lifting his trach up. Mom looked at his trach and saw that it was just about out. It had bent inside his trachea and was blocking his airway. Mom decided to do an emergency trach change. Dad grabbed the extra 3.5 trach and Mom focused on making sure the new trach was deflated and getting a roll under James' neck. The main reason for skipping lube is because James should really be in a 4.0 trach; it's not a tight fit. Mom did the emergency trach change herself. James was off the vent. Dad grabbed and cut new trach ties while Mom held the trach in. We did the rest of trach care, cleaned, and dried his neck while his ties were off. 

Everything happened so quick it took some time to digest what had just happened. We think the culprit was the shitty 2x2 split gauze. We normally use Covidien Excilon (from the hospital) but we are getting low so we tried some of the McKesson split gauze we get from our DME. It can be easily ripped and leaves fuzz around the stoma. Definitely a big mistake as it made James want to rip it off and take his trach with it.

So we ended up getting on the road later than planned. James stayed up the whole way. Stopped at Bucc-ee's and we will definitely be returning.

Out to dinner with the fam. James needed a nap.

Stopping at Buc-ees!

P.S. You can email James your love and support as often as you’d like. Mom and Dad read these email to James as they come in. We all love them! JamesWestonAbramowitz@gmail.com