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TrachKid Profile

Melanie M. Werla was born on March 7th, 2009 8lbs. 8oz. and perfectly healthy. We went home 2 days after she was born and things were great. My 3yr. old Trinity was loving helping out with her little sis. Life was good and moving along smoothly until the 2nd week in April when trinity and my husband got a cold. On the nite of April 16th melanie was sleeping in her bassinet and I checked on her before I layed down for bed, she wasn't  breathing and  blue around the mouth. I immediately picked her up blew in her face and she caught her breath, but she was so sleepy she felt lifeless and i couldnt wake her up she continued to stop breathing so i took her to the E.R. in Reedsburg WI. Some of the nurses said it was normal for an infant to stop breathing but when the doctor came to see her she was concerned because her oxygen levels were droping significantly and her heart rate was droping. They monitored her over night and the next morning said were sending you to Madison becasue Melanie needs to be looked at by a specialist. So we packed up and headed to St. Marys hospital in Madison WI by ambulance. When we arrived they got an IV in right away and started drawing blood to test for RSV and other viruses, they thought the apnea was happening do to illness seems how family was also sick. After waiting a week for results they came back negative. Melanie was on oxygen and had to be awakened every time she had an apnic spell during sleep so she was never getting good rest. They did an MRI, EEG, EKG, RECTAL BIOPSY, ECHO OF THE HEART,ACID REFLUX, And then after a month of being there they did another MRI and all that came back normal. At this point i was going crazy i wanted to know what was wrong and how to fix it. She had a sleep study done and it was obvious that she went apnic during sleep. She now has a trachea and sleeps very well at nite and seems to be very happy and alert. She only needs to be hooked up to a vent when she is asleep she is still growing and you couldnt tell anything is wrong with her when shes awake, thats what makes it so hard. She just has this one little flaw that nobody knows if shes gonnna grow out of it or not. So while time passes the only way to keep her safe and well rested is having the trachea in. We just keep our fingers crossed and pray this is something shes gonna grow out of.  We are still in the hospital and unsure when we are going to get to go home. We are going to need nursing at night and that is one of our biggest opsticals right now because we live in a very small town out in the country and theres not many options for nursing. We cant go home until nursing is set up which could take months. Things are especially hard on Trinity who just wants her mommy and little sis to come home. Melanie is dealing very well with the trachea she doesnt need to be suctioned a whole lot, she has a very strong little cough and is able to cough things out on her own a lot. She still drinks from her bottle and does great at it! Im so proud of my little girl shes been so strong through all of this and is very happy, and growing like crazy!

• Gender: Female
• Demographic Region: North America
• Siblings: One
• Medical Conditions: Sleep Apnea
• Ethnicity: white

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Member for

2 years 36 weeks

Location

Country

United States

State/Province

Wisconsin