If Your Child Needs a Trach: Part 2

Once your child receives the tracheostomy, the information seems never-ending. I personally felt as though simply caring for the trach would take up 24 hours of my day. I couldn’t imagine stepping aside for a minute – I couldn’t imagine the time and energy it would take to constantly take care of secretions, bacteria, etc. So, again, I’m going to pretend I’m writing to myself 2 years ago – and provide some comfort during a hard time!

Trach and Stoma Care

Trach care was one of those things that was in the pamphlet with the weird manikin being the “patient” and all the medical terms for cleaning the stoma. Reading the pamphlet made me feel as though I had to become a surgeon to simply take care of Paige’s hygiene. Then, the first few times I did it my hands were shaking, afraid I’d do every step wrong. 

Now, as I sit here two years later, I can confidently tell you that trach care does not require you to be a surgeon -it only requires common sense and a good partner. For my husband and I, we are both organized and take care of hygiene on our own. This made it easy to implement trach care in our daily life. 

Trach care isn’t complicated – when you get used to it, it takes about 10 minutes of your day. You’ll develop a system – you’ll have a favorite person to do it with. You can have conversation – you can do it like muscle memory. Trach care isn’t going to change your life, it won’t take an hour of your day. Find a good person you trust you can learn it with and develop your own system. Do it once a day, make it a habit, and it’ll become like second nature.

Note: This is why doctors ask about a support system when your child needs a trach – you NEED someone who helps you every day. Whether it be a husband, a nurse, a parent – it is a two person job, and you can’t skip. 

Suctioning

Suctioning seemed so scary to me! I thought of how much it would make Paige uncomfortable, I thought of accidentally hurting her or going too deep. I thought of how many times we’d have to do it a day, and in my mind, I thought it would be a time-consuming process that would hurt her every time I did it, and I could never get used to it. 

• It doesn’t hurt! It may tickle a little bit if you go an inch deeper, and she may even cough. But it doesn’t hurt. Paige doesn’t even notice – it’s part of her life.
•   It’s not time consuming! I’ve never had to suck snot out of Paige’s nose before, and when I see other moms do that, I think of how nice it is to have a suction machine. Suctioning Paige is faster than blowing her nose – and it’s part of our everyday life.               

Suctioning is something that people notice – they notice the ‘mini lawn mower’ noise as I like to call our home suction machine. They think it looks scary – but it’s not. It just sucks secretions out of the trach, just like you help your child blow your nose. 

Look at the Big Picture

It’s overwhelming now, yes – but it’s not something to be afraid of. You’ll get used to it – just learn it. All parents have to learn how to potty train their children, or learn how to blow their nose. You ahve tot take time out of your day to suck the snot out of their nose when they have a cold, or give them medicine that they hate. Having a child with a trach is the same – you just have different things you have to learn. Learn all the facts about your child’s trach, figure out why the suction depth is that much or why you have to suction in the first place – look at the big picture, it’ll help a lot. 

Always, always put your child first. Do trach care every day. Suction when they’re stuffy. Things like this will help them in ways you don’t realize, and it’ll also prevent infections and bad hygiene. Be the parent that takes this huge change and turns it into something beautiful – it is so worth it.