Trached

Evening Everyone,

Well, after much consultation, prayer, reading, research, and more consultation, the family has decided today to move forward with a tracheotomy.

Why?

For 3 reasons:

1. Every member of her medical team recommended it. The respiratory therapist, the nursing staff, and 8 different doctors all agreed that doing so would be beneficial for Rachel.

2. Time. You see, after multiple strokes, it is quite apparent that Rachel has some serious physical rehab ahead of her. The longer she sits in that bed, the more challenging her rehab will become. The family (and Rachel) all agree that getting her out of the ICU and into rehab ASAP is priority right now, and her medical team assured us that this would be a step in the right direction.

3. Pneumonia. The danger is that she may get a resistant strain of pneumonia, and the fact that she's not clearing all her secretions puts her at risk of developing pneumonia, which is a very serious in the ICU.

With all these factors combined, the family has had to make a judgement call, and this is it. So she proceeded with the Trach today, it was a brief procedure, and she's in the process of coming back out of sedation right now. Nobody but her mother (Crystal) has seen her yet, but we were told that it was a smooth procedure, no problems or hiccups.

So that's the scoop. On a lighter note, I will soon post a picture of my "workstation" here in the hospital. It is without doubt the most jury-rigged, goofy setup that I have probably ever used, and while I can attempt to describe it here, a pic is worth a thousand words.

Continue praying, and thank you all for the prayers thus far.

- Josh