Mykel Hamm
TrachKid Profile
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My son Mykel Zackary Hamm was born on Friday August 10, 2000. It all started like a pretty normal birth. When he came out he was kind of making a grigly sound. My doctor said he probably swallowed some fluid on the way out. So, when they took him to the nursery the doctors put him under a oxygen hood. They told us that the oxygen would help him push out the fluid he swallowed. But over the course of the first 24 hours he developed abdominal distention. He seemed to be having severe respiratory distress. They tried to pass a NG tube, however this would not pass thru. They did a barium study and realized that the nasogastric tube was obstructed in the upper esophagus. Because of their concern of a tracheosophageal fistula my son was then transferred to The Children's Hospital Of The King's Daughters.
When we got there they gathered us in a room and started talking all these medical terms I had never heard before. Before the meeting was over they were telling us he probably would not make it thru the night. Then after that news off they went, to start to correct his T-E- Fistula after about eight hours they came out and said everything went OK. His trachea and esophagus look pretty normal except for some swelling. Subsequent to this Mykel had multiple problems with pneumothoraces and leak of the fistula. Eventually that closed with out surgery.
Then came the task of feeding him, which up to this point I really hadn't thought about. He had multiple problems with enteral feedings. Then we were told that in the beginning his abdominal had become very distention from all the air they gave him when he was under the oxygen hood. So he had to go under yet another surgery, which really was just a test called exploratory laprotomy. During this procedure they found out that he had a malrotation of the gastrointestinal tract and then he under went a surgery called the LADD. They performed an appendectomy because it was on the wrong side. At this time they came back and told me he had to whole in his heart called AVSD and ASD. Both which I am happy to say closed on their own with out surgery. Then they wanted to put in a chest tubes to remove air pockets that formed at birth. I can't count how many they put in. All that I can say is they only made three incisions. Meanwhile, we had now been there close to two months. They were feeding him thru his central pic line. He was still on the vent.
When they finally got the air pockets resolved they started attempting to extubate, but all attempts failed. We wait one month and tried again. I remember the feeling the night before each attempt. Then the day of extubation walking down the hallway, we could hear him struggling. They did some more test like laryngobronchosopy and bronchosopies. Then we decided to put in a 3.0 neonatal tracheostomy. Of course in the beginning I didn't even know what this was. After it was in I was full of mixed feelings. You all probably know the feelings. Although we were stilling having problems getting him to be able to eat. So they put in a g-tube, so he would be able to receive proper nutrition.
Then in early December Mykel got real sick they thought he had meningitis, so they did a spinal tap. Luckily, that came back negative. What they did find was MRSA, which is a staph infection. They treated him with meds, but to this day he still has it colonized in his trach. Because this had wore down his immune system he developed pneumonia. They gave him meds and the pneumonia went away.
Then they just wanted to watch him and train us to care for him, so they transferred him to the Transitional Care Unit (TCU). He developed severe reflux and under went another procedure called the nissen fundoplication. He was put on several medicines. After all our training was done, Mykel finally came home on Jan. 16, 2001. When he came home our life continued to change. He came home with nurses. Which of course made me feel inadequate. We had a whole mess of doctors appointments. He was put on therapies. As of today September 21, 2002, Mykel is still at home with us and doing just fine. We are enjoying life with a trach. He is are little blessing .
Thanks to all for taking the time to read Mykel story.
Update Feb, 2003: He got his g-tube out! We are stilling working on the trach but, it will happen soon I am sure.
Tina Hamm
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- 3 years 36 weeks
Location
- Country
- United States
- State/Province
- Virginia
