Thursday, January 17, 2008

Post-Op Report

This evening, David was in surgery for approximately 2 hours with the vascular surgeon. His left leg muscles were assessed for death/damage. Unfortunately, I'm not up on my muscle anatomy these days, nor is my mom who gave the report. Apparently two muscles were okay with no tissue removed, but 50% of the other two muscles was irreparable and removed. The surgeon tried to be conservative and take only was was absolutely necessary at this point. He will have another surgery in a few days.

Tomorrow, he will be having a tracheotomy, which is a surgical procedure to create an opening through the neck into the trachea(windpipe). A tube is inserted through the opening to allow passage of air and removal of secretions. Instead of breathing through the nose and mouth, he will temporarily breathe through the tracheotomy tube. It'll leave a noticeable scar, but will be much better for his body in the long run. Below is a diagram of where the trach incision will be.

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