Update on appointment with Carter's Pulmonologist

I wanted to give everyone an update on Carter's appointment today. We met with Dr. Kapoor (Carter's Pulmonologist) and to say the least, he was VERY pleased. He felt as if our request to start the process of trying to remove the tracheostomy was more than reasonable. He does not use the ventilator anymore, he does not require oxygen (his stats were 98% at the office), and his lower airway sounds great! There are several things that need to be done to have this happen. First, we need a cap. This is a device that actually covers the trache and requires Carter to breathe through his mouth and nose. I have already got that on order and hope to get it by the end of the week. We will start slow with it and use it in intervals until he can use it all day. Then we will move to using it at night. We also have to make an appointment with Carter's ENT to have him do an upper airway scope to make sure that his vocal cords are moving like they should be. Dr. Kapoor did not forsee this being an issue as Carter tolerates the speaking valve well and we have actually capped the trache ourselves and he does fine! After all of this, we will return to see Dr. Kapoor on October 21st and if the report from the ENT is fine and he is tolerating the cap, we will have an overnight stay at INOVA for them to monitor him. If he does well, NO MORE TRACHE!!!!!!!! HOOORRRRRAAAYYYYY!!! Skip and I are very happy that we can begin this process. Thank you to everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers!!! Please continue to pray that all of this goes well and Carter-Man can begin to breathe like God designed our bodies to do!!!!!