Surgery Update

Sofia is doing well and should be home in a few days, with the trach as normal. The surgeons said that her airway looked better than expected, with just a small area of soft tissue that had collapsed, and not the scarring they often see from babies who have been intubated for extended periods. They opted for the LTPand took a bit of rib cartilage to open her airway. There is a silicone stent in her trachea as well that will be removed in a few weeks after she heals. Then, if the airway holds up, she will be on the path to decannulation (eventual removal of the trach), hopefully a month after that. The alternative was a one-stage procedure that might have led to much faster decannulation, but would have left her in the hospital sedated for a week and was much higher risk.

So overall we're on a slower, safer path and things are looking better because the damage was less. She's recovering now, and in some obvious pain and discomfort, but hanging in there and we are very happy things went as well as they did.

Here she is in the chilly waiting room with Daddy before surgery. Shortly after that, we handed her over to the anesthesiologist for surgery.