Alin's Site

My burned up trach site

See the picture above, you may notice that there are some black charred spots on my trach site, the reason is Doctor Walner looked at it and immediately identified it as granulation tissue, like the stuff that grew around my g-tube as my body tried to start rejecting it three months AFTER It was inserted, yeah absurd huh? That went on for a good 6 months, zapping it with Silver Nitrate sticks (They are a cauterizing agent to destroy granulation tissue around stomas and whatnot) They look like this

Silver Nitrate Cauterization Sticks

God only knows how long this will go on with my trach site but I am glad to hear it’s not another infection! I have been off antibiotics for a whole 12 days, a record this year!

Another photo of me and my harness! CLICK FOR MORE

Today we went to chevy’s which is a nearby Mexican restaurant with great food. Nurse B. came with us and really enjoyed her meal, quite a bit of suctioning ensued, I am surprised the entire restaurant didn’t turn around at the sound of the suction machine! I got 7 pictures of me taken while we were there. click it to see them! As you notice in this photo my harness is quite prominent, reason is I find it to be a really cool looking one and so do a lot of my friends. Harness fashion statement anyone!? Go to Bodypoint if you are in a chair and want to hop on the boat! They have EVERYTHING ranging from harnesses, SUB-ASIS Seatbelts to regular seatbelts to leg harnesses to calf straps to chest straps to ankle huggers (straps) Everything from bodypoint is EXTREMELY comfortable, in fact I have fallen asleep MANY times in my setup and if not fallen asleep I’ve dozed off so relaxed that I’d forget I am in the waiting room for a doctor and they are yelling “ALIN!!! ITS YOU!!! ROOM 3!!!” And I say oh boy, I’m driving under the influence of really comfortable straps (DUIS) Driving Under Influence of Straps.

Construction no problem for my C400 with Bodypoint

We came home and then I immediately subjected Nurse B. to a long walk err HIKE to the library and I totally trashed her, by the time we got home she was tired as heck but she sure enjoyed getting out on the city and learning more about our city and the Underground passage right under the busiest street in the town! We both had a lot of fun and took a bunch o photos! One of the streets was like cobble stone and thanks to all my gear from Bodypoint not a single spasm totally stable ride combining the suspension of my C400 with the stabilizing force of the Bodypoint gear!

Keep it up Bodypoint and Keep it up B. you need to wear hiking shoes more often

Infection is worsening... Crap!

The orders list has been updated. We have to see doctor Walner on monday due to my trach issue shown above. WE MAY CODE.

As of a few weeks ago my condition is officially NOT PROGRESSIVE DUE TO LACK OF FIRM SUPPORTING EVIDENCE OF A PROGRESSIVE DISEASE. My condition is quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy!

Granulation tissue? Irritation? Infection? WHAT IS IT DOC!?

Whatever that stuff in the center of the trach site is, it hurts when touched and seems floppy and was not there before. Abnormal growth, either its infected tissue swelling, granulation tissue, or irritated tissue. Either way this picture is going to make its way to the doctor tomorrow and we might be going into the doctors office much sooner than the expected 5 days from now, I don’t like how this looks! Tracking photos will be daily probably for now.

Red again, seriously irritated or minor infection

I am really getting tired of all these problems with my trach site, it could be the trach tube its self causing problems, thus the idea of switching to a smaller sized Bivona TTS trach is in the cards as I only inflate my cuff at night anyway. My friend Kira uses a 5.0 Bivona and she gets by with it quite well! But the trach changes weekly could culminate other problems for me. Thus it is something to be considered. ANYWAY, back to the reason of this post. Either my trach site has gotten really irritated from not sleeping without the cervical collar and sleeping in odd positions OR it is infected again, either are possible but more likely it is severe irritation as a result of faulty positioning but we are NOT taking chances. My doctor prescribed Bactroban ointment to clear it up and hasten healing if it is just irritation, its a protectant / antibiotic cream. We will see in 5 days if it improves or not, no improvement and it’s off to the office! I think I will probably use the C-Collar for that 5 day period too, as it is our acute irritation prevention device, long term we are working with pillows and stuff to hasten proper positioning.

Happy Easter colored Eggs

Happy easter everyone, A.K.A Resurrection day, this is the third day after Jesus died for us and this is the day he be resurrected! Easter is not all about presents, candy, eggs and whatnot. It’s about recognizing its importance of Jesus’s death and resurrection. So tomorrow I might have photos and I might not, no guarantee… Period. Also with my blood sugar issues I am going to have to carry my meter with me so I can meter myself during the big luncheon thing. Honestly it is more of a pain to go out than it would be to stay home. Hopefully my vehicle’s lockdown will be functioning!

Apparently not many of you clicked on the picture yesterday leading to your “demise” of believing that this was actually a real surgery. First clue, GraffTeq is not even a real material, if you google it you get no results. Secondly the PICC line hangs way too low, it should be in the upper arm.

Congrats to those of you who identified it correctly. And HA HA HA to those of you who bought into it!

Want to see the Anesthesia Machine fool from 2009, click here

Well as some of you know April 1st is April Fools, but for me it meant a life change! I am no longer G-Tube dependent for feeding. Today I went to the hospital for a novel procedure called a GraffTeq G-Tube closure surgery. It was done quickly in about an hour and during that time I had a special PICC line inserted called a POWERPICC that they will use to do CT scans of my belly every few weeks for the next 3 months to make sure it healed up well, I am also taking strong antibiotics via the PICC line. But now I eat and take all medications orally, yay! Click the photo below to continue reading this post!!!

G-Tube removed (CLICK TO READ AND SEE MORE)