Zadie's getting noisier!

We took Zadie to CHOP in the beginning of September for a bronchoscopy.  At the time, they downsized her trach because the ENT saw that she has a very small airway and her previous size trach was pretty much filling up her trachea, which is why she never made any noise.  The hope is that with a smaller trach, she can tolerate a Passy Muir valve (PMV), which will allow her to start vocalizing.  The day after her bronchoscopy and stoma revision (where they removed some scar tissue and fixed her trachea, which had partially collapsed), we tried the PMV while still in the hospital.  She must have still been swollen from the surgery because she did not tolerate it well at all.  We made an appointment to come back to the office in October (a week from tomorrow!) in hopes that the swelling goes down enough for her to tolerate the PMV.  If she still doesn't tolerate it, we will downsize again.

Anyway, gradually over the past few weeks, Zadie has started to make noise!  It's not all the time, but she does get squeaks out!  Sometimes it's when she's crying, but sometimes it's when she's happy and she's clearly intentionally making noise.  This is a great sign, because that means she's pushing air up past her trach and out her mouth and nose.  I think we have a good chance of her tolerating the PMV next week.  And if she doesn't, then I think the smaller size trach will really do the trick.  I hope so!  It's really, really great to hear her making sounds.

In case you missed my blog post from earlier this year about why she's so quiet, here you go: Why My Baby is So Quiet.