Home

No Carter is not coming home. Yet. Home is a word that we haven't talked about pretty much ever with the Doctors. Today we did and it was awesome. Carter is a rockstar! Seriously the kid is blowing away everyone. Before surgery all the doctors kept telling us "now remember it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better". In almost all Trach cases that is true. Thankfully in Carters it hasn't been. We thought that he would be still on pain meds sedated 6 days post-op. Not Carter he decided today that he was ready to kick the vent and switch over to CPAP mode. Meaning the machine is just boosting his own breaths. He is doing all the breathing on his own. This morning when I talked to the Doctor it was his goal to get Carter to CPAP mode by Friday. I guess all it took was for Carter to hear that because he had awesome blood gasses after and switched over within a couple of hours. Pretty much we are ecstatic. Our hopes of coming home off the vent are becoming more of a reality. In fact one of the RT's today said she would bet a million bucks that he comes home off the vent. Keep your fingers crossed. If he came home off the vent that would mean a lot less in home nursing care and we could have more of a "normal" life. So the plan now is that all the Doc's, developmental, and whoever else are going to meet Thursday and figure out a concrete plan for Carter and discuss his DISCHARGE date!!! We won't come straight home. We will make a stop at Our Children's House in downtown Dallas for a couple weeks. Dr. Perez said we could be making our way over there as early as next week. There we will learn more trach care, wean him off his pressure support and hopefully change him over to trach collar (meaning humidify and oxygen). From there we will come home.

Speaking about trach care. Today was the first time they have changed out his trach since surgery. Not going to lie it was freaky! Good thing I have a strong stomach because seeing the hole in his neck wasn't too pretty. Somehow I mustered up the strength to do the care and clean up all the wounds. This is something that we will do daily forever so I figured might as well just get it all figured out now. I also learned how to suction him, easy. When we changed out his trach we put in a new kind that is so much more comfortable for him. He was such a happy boy after. Calmer than I have ever seen him. The stitches in his neck that were holding the trach in place were really irritating his skin so we were happy to get them out. He most definitely has sensitive skin like his Daddy and Brother.

This is what a trach looks like. Carter's is more rubbery, making it more comfortable for him. Pretty much the same thing. The long little tube thing is what goes into his airway and what he breaths out of. I try not too think too much about it because it kinda freaks me out. I know with time it will all become more normal.

Anyways the kid is cute. Freaking cute. We are so proud of him. The thought of him being home is unreal. I can't even put it into words. We are beyond happy! We have lots to do to get things ready for him to come home. We also need to get our CPR certification done. We have put it off for so long because we thought home was still a long ways a way. Time to get busy or I guess I should say busier our lives are pretty crazy.