Tripp is absolutely doing wonderfully after his surgery. He is back to eating the same amount of food he has been eating, still saying mama, and drinking some out of his sippy cup. He just had his 9mo check up and most of all is well. He is 22lbs 11oz (75th percentile) and 30 inches long (90th percentile). And is okay developmentally. He is still seeing speech therapy every week and physical therapy 2x a month so that he doesnt fall behind on anything.
Our speech therapist is going to be presenting information about Tripp and jaw distraction soon, and she wants us to think of something to say about it all. There are so many things that I can say, I dont know how I will pick just one.
When Tripp was in the nicu in Roanoke, doctors told us we would not take him home with us until he had a trach. I am thankful that we would not take that as an answer, and I am thankful for the one doctor who helped us find Wake Forest once we voiced to him that we wanted to look into the other procedures. I am thankful for the jaw distraction because I never have to have a nurse in my home most of the day. I am thankful that Tripp can get a cold and not have a 50% chance of dying because of a simple cold. Im thankful that I know he is breathing at night, and he will continue to breathe all night without any obstructions. Im thankful that when I lose track of time and its 5 minutes until 1, that I dont have to pack up a ton of stuff just to go pick up Bella from preschool, instead Tripp and I can run to the car and go. Im thankful that our life is relatively normal compared to what it would be if Tripp had a trach.
I could go on and on about these things, how do you pick just one? When you look at all of the cons with a trach, how can anyone chose trach over jaw distraction? Unfortunately in this area it is being done, but I hope that once the doctors see how awesome Tripp is doing that he can change it.
