Happy Sunday. We are officially on winter vacation this week and loving every moment of it. For the past few hours the kids and I have been reading on the couches, interrupted only by dog walks, cat throwup, and the occasional snacks and tea breaks. Poor Alan doesn’t have a week of vacation ahead of him and somehow our calmness has motivated him to work. He installed a cool power strip under the island counter and is now repairing the guest bath toilet that I didn’t even know needed repair.

The real point of this post though is that I had surgery again on Friday, to open up the subglottic stenosis in my trachea. Almost exactly a year from the last surgery. They call it a dilation procedure, not surgery, but it all seems the same to me. Early morning at the hospital, IV, general anesthesia for an hour, recovery, etc. It’s worth it though, because now I can breath again!

Don’t I look ready? :)

The doctors took good care of me and Alan was there to see me in and out. The nurse didn’t like the look of my veins (they never do) so she called in Wayne, the pro, who got it on the first try with no pain and minimal bruising. The anesthesiology team read my file from last time and I think they were working extra hard to make sure everything went well this time! I don’t even remember leaving the prep room or returning to the recovery room. The best part is, other than the open airway, of course, is that whatever the doctor did differently, my tongue isn’t numb this time! The other two times I ended up with one side of my tongue numb for about 10 days. It was a very weird sensation. This time, nothing! Yay! I did have to wear my glasses all afternoon because my eyes were super dry, which is not a problem I usually have, but fortunately I just got new glasses so wearing them wasn’t bad at all.  Also, I napped a lot. :)

Evening snuggle

Friday was also Valentine’s Day, which we don’t do much for around here. We never even got around to decorating this year. I left the kids a small display on the piano, but that was about it. Which was fine for all of us.

Yesterday we hung out some more, doing not much, reading, watching TV and a movie (most of which I slept through) and taking care of the neighbor’s dogs while they are off cruising in warmer climates! Eve has three pet sitting jobs this vacation. One every day for nine days, and the other two are just single days. She does love her pets!

I hope the rest of you had a nice Valentine’s Day, Friday, weekend, and week ahead! I’m reading a really scary book, so I have to finish it before bedtime tonight.  It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. :)

I haven’t posted anything about my second trachea surgery here, that I can remember.  I thought I should though, just for posterity and future reference.  For the moment it’s over and done with.

Last spring I started experiencing shortness of breath and wheezing, like I had back in 2015/16.  Instead of going through the whole process of x-rays, cat scans, asthma treatments, etc, I just went back to the ENT who fixed the problem in the first place!  Actually, I went to my PCP first to get the needed referrals.  My official PCP, a different doctor than I saw during the first round of all this, thought maybe the problem was caused by reflux.  I told him I didn’t have reflux, just the occasional heartburn.  He explained reflux and I said, “Ooohhh, yes, I guess I do have that!”  He gave me the ENT referral, but also had my try Prilosec for two weeks.  Guess what? No heartburn — at all!  That was a nice two weeks.  Unfortunately the damage was already done.

I went back to the ENT in November and he did the scope again, finding that yes, once again the scar tissue had built up in my subglottic area (just below the larynx) and was causing the wheezing and breathing problems.  He said we should definitely do another surgery.  I said, ok, but I don’t want a third, so how can we prevent this in the future?!  He agreed that reflux is a likely cause and prescribed a longer duration anti-reflux med.

So I had the surgery again on February 8th.  I intentionally scheduled it for the week before vacation so I could have two weeks off.  I remembered that last time one week didn’t feel like enough (though when I went back and reread the post I realized I also went to a Lego League competition the day before going back to work, NOT the best idea!)  This time I had a quiet week at home (with the except of Eve home sick one day, snow day another day, follow up appointments another day, etc)  Then we went to Franklin over vacation so I was able to relax there too.  That’s what I do best in Franklin!  :)

I went back to work this week and I’m feeling pretty great.  I can totally breath again!  I can walk up stairs without feeling like I’m dying.  I don’t sound like Darth Vader anymore.  I got nice flowers and a get well card from my coworkers, so I sent out a thank you email and gave them all a quick overview of what’s going on.  Since then so many have come to talk to me about it!  People have said they thought I had asthma, or bronchitis, or emphysema!  Geesh!  I’m glad I cleared that up with everyone.

I’m currently taking reflux meds, but also changing my diet to reduce the reflux in the hopes that I don’t have to be on the meds forever.  Now we wait and see if the whole thing comes back again after a few years.  Fingers crossed it does not!

If you’re curious, here’s a good description of what’s going on.

Here’s a super detailed version of it with some gross pictures, and that article led me to another that might explain what I really have.  I’m posting this mostly for my own reference, in case it comes back again in two years.

Anyway, that’s my story for this evening.  It’s great to be able to climb stairs and read a full picture book without having to stop and catch my breath!

I had a nice visit with the allergist today.  Bright and early.  Well, not bright because thanks to day light savings time and winter, it’s damn dark these days!  And rainy. Anyway, where was I?  Right, at the allergist.  Getting poked and prodded.

They tested me for 38 different things and I only got two reactions!  Cats and dust.  Exactly what I was expecting.  Seems I’ve outgrown the tree allergy though, which is good.  She said both are very common and the size of my reactions means it’s highly unlikely that allergies are the cause of my breathing issues.  (Holy moly, I was just looking for a post about my last surgery and came across this one about allergy testing two years ago. I’d completely forgotten about it!  I guess I wasn’t allergic to trees two years ago either. Totally forgot! Also, glad they did it on my arms this time!)

Yesterday I went back to visit the ENT surgeon who did my throat surgery two years ago. He did the same yucky scope again and said that there is definitely blockage.  Again!  In fact, he showed me the hole at the top of my trachea and said it should actually be 3-4 times larger than it is!  I said, “would that explain..” and he said, “Yes! The wheezing and the breathing and everything.”  The real question though is “why?”  Why does this keep happening?  After further discussion, the going theory is acid reflux.  I did a little research and it all does fit together.  So the next step is to make a plan for reflux meds and schedule surgery — again.

Soo… I decided I’m tired of coloring my hair and I’m going to let the grays grow out. I’m hoping I won’t look super old and awful when it’s all gray, but also I just don’t feel like paying the $$ and taking the time to keep coloring it. The roots always show before I get back to the salon, so I’m not really fooling anyone anyway. Alan is pretty excited about this. He said, “Finally we’ll be matchy matchy!” The kids thinks it’s cool, and Eve is hoping that when it’s all gray I’ll dye a streak bright purple. They are all kind to me.

I got two good laughs this week from kids who are apparently starting to notice. A fifth grader stopped mid-sentence and said, “You have some silver in your hair!” Then he quickly reassured me that it’s ok because it might just be the way the light is hitting my hair and it’s only on one side and besides his grandmother had gray hair and she died last summer when she was 100 years old. I barely got a word in before he was off again. Today Eve has a friend over and his little sister, who is in Pre-K, said “Oh Mrs. Johnson, you have gray hair!” I said yep! She said “oh” and turned to talk to her sister about something else.

I think I have to come up with a clever response to kid comments. Hmmmm…