Update
Sam is becoming a sassypants again!! He's getting bored with watching movies and is wanting more visitors and more things to do! This is all good stuff! He's feeling pain in places below his chin (since the 15th it has been sensation in his right shoulder during range of motion physical therapy) and having a lot of reflex/muscle twitch movement throughout his entire body! They're small signs, but good. Also the Physical Therapist did a neural test on him to check for responsiveness (testing his ability to contract his anal sphincter) and he was able to squeeze quite hard on command twice!
Occupational therapy and rehab are starting to get more involved in his care now so he is going to start getting a lot more visitors (clowns, dogs, people who will come and read to him, play live music for him, etc.) and as soon as he is feeling up to it, we will be able to get him up in a wheelchair and take him for walks outside!
Sam had his tracheotomy and g-tube placement surgery this past Monday afternoon. Once he woke up that evening he was all smiles and sass. He won't have the feeding tube in his nose removed until this coming Monday (they want to give the stomach tube time to heal before they begin using it) but having the breathing tube removed from his mouth was a huge gain in Sam's opinion! He's been practicing talking ~with~ the ventilator so he can actually make some sound. It's still a bare whisper but it's so much more than he was capable of just a few days ago.
Tuesday he asked me "Mom, when do you think I can eat solid food again? It's been weeks since I've eaten! Do you think I can have an apple? A big, juicy apple!" Then he proceeded to close his eyes halfway and lick his lips with a big grin pasted across his face! He's scheduled for a swallow study next Monday with a followup dye/x-ray swallow study for Tuesday. If those show him swallowing and not aspirating anything then he'll be OK'd to start back on solids slowly.
The past couple days have seen Sam spending most of his time sleeping, which is fantastic because he hasn't slept more than 2-4 hours at a stretch since the fall. I will be back down at the hospital as of this afternoon until next Tuesday evening, but I'll try to get online at least once or twice in the interim.
Occupational therapy and rehab are starting to get more involved in his care now so he is going to start getting a lot more visitors (clowns, dogs, people who will come and read to him, play live music for him, etc.) and as soon as he is feeling up to it, we will be able to get him up in a wheelchair and take him for walks outside!
Sam had his tracheotomy and g-tube placement surgery this past Monday afternoon. Once he woke up that evening he was all smiles and sass. He won't have the feeding tube in his nose removed until this coming Monday (they want to give the stomach tube time to heal before they begin using it) but having the breathing tube removed from his mouth was a huge gain in Sam's opinion! He's been practicing talking ~with~ the ventilator so he can actually make some sound. It's still a bare whisper but it's so much more than he was capable of just a few days ago.
Tuesday he asked me "Mom, when do you think I can eat solid food again? It's been weeks since I've eaten! Do you think I can have an apple? A big, juicy apple!" Then he proceeded to close his eyes halfway and lick his lips with a big grin pasted across his face! He's scheduled for a swallow study next Monday with a followup dye/x-ray swallow study for Tuesday. If those show him swallowing and not aspirating anything then he'll be OK'd to start back on solids slowly.
The past couple days have seen Sam spending most of his time sleeping, which is fantastic because he hasn't slept more than 2-4 hours at a stretch since the fall. I will be back down at the hospital as of this afternoon until next Tuesday evening, but I'll try to get online at least once or twice in the interim.