Helping Others

I am so fired up right now! I just got home from my first meeting with a soon-to-be trach family. I was asked a few days ago by the trach nurse at Dell to possibly talk to a family who was in the process of deciding to get a trach for their baby. I said "Heck Yes!" and she said she would pass on my phone number to the family. Saturday rolled around and I still hadn't heard anything so I called up to the NICU myself and spoke with the charge nurse and asked her to give my name and number to them. The mother called me about an hour later and I was beyond excited! She said she would need to call me back Sunday morning but it was possible that we could meet that day. She called me this morning and we planned to meet at 2:30 in the family room right outside of the NICU. I loaded up Noah at about 1:30 and, after pulling over 3 times to suction, we made it just on time.

The family was so grateful to meet with Noah and I. I brought along some pictures of Noah before his trach, right after his surgery, and then a few of us over the months. I wanted them to understand exactly what their son would be like when he comes back from the trach surgery. Nothing can totally prepare you for seeing your baby with a hole in their neck and completely limp from sedation. But I hope that explaining it to them beforehand and letting them see the picture of Noah will help ease at least a little bit of the heartache they will feel in that moment. I also wanted them to see that even though this is not what we planned, we still go on as a family. I showed them pictures of Noah with Santa and the Easter Bunny, pictures of how sweet Oliver is with him, and pictures of us being our version of normal.

I also tried to reassure them that they are making the best decision for their son. It is a hard choice to make but for some people like us, we didn't have a choice. The trach was our last and only resort. This is not an easy life but at least I am confident in Noah's airway. It's manageable. And best of all, we got to bring him home with us!

I really feel like I made a difference today. Noah's story and the life that we are living offers people hope. Hope that life does go on after the trach. Hope that you will get through this. And hope that everything will be okay. This is really becoming a passion of mine. I know I don't have all the answers. All I have is our story. But if our story can ease someone's fears or make someone feel at peace with their decisions, then I want to share it with as many people that will listen.