Procedures

Today Logan had a laryngoscopy, bronchoscopy, and lumbar puncture. We went to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis for the procedures. Logan was placed under general anesthesia. The ENT doctor took a look with his flexible scope to see Logan's upper airway and then a ridgid scope to look further past the vocal cords and he did some washings of the right lung and obtained fluid for cultures. He gave us copies of the pictures he took. He said that Logan was "drowning in secretions" when he first looked. He said his vocal cords worked properly. He noted that Logan has very poor coordination of his swallowing. He said he does not "protect his airway very well". Anatomically everything looked great. His airway was strong and does not collapse as we first thought. This is called laryngomalacia.

So good news but at the same time a bummer! I was hoping for something that would explain why he is such a noisy breather and why he aspirates. Instead today further reinforced that Logan has muscle coordination issues and that we are still no closer to an answer. The ENT said that a tracheostomy is off the table at this point. He does not feel it is a good option and I totally agree. He talked to us about having some of his salivary glands tied off so that he would produce less saliva. That would then reduce the amount he aspirates. He said it is a pretty simple procedure that requires some incisions. He said it is something we can think about for the future. Otherwise he didn't have much else to offer.

I was upset after he left. I didn't realize I would feel so defeated after today. I was convinced that we would find something to explain the airway problems. I am very sad tonight thinking that my son may have some sort of disease or disorder that cannot be fixed. We have known for a long time that the chances of a cure are slim to none but hope and miracles always remain in the back of my mind! So we will continue to work very hard to keep him healthy and continue to pray for our little man!

Back to the lumbar puncture...so the pulmonologist worked with our neurologist to line up the lumbar puncture while Logan was put under. He had a doctor set up to come and perform the procedure after the scopes were done. They took spinal fluid for tests and are going to check a lactate level, amino acids, and check neurotransmitters. I am not sure when we will hear back but probably some time next week. Hopefully these tests will better direct the doctors to the right diagnosis. We still plan to see the genetics doctor in June. The genetics office had asked me to see if Dr. Sidman (ENT) would put in an order for them to consult while we were at the hospital but I felt as though we had enough going on today and didn't feel up for that added stress.

The procedures took about an hour. The recovery time was quite a bit longer. It took Logan about three hours to perk up to his usual self. In the past his recovery time was very short. He would always come back from post-op kicking. This time he was pretty sleepy and had a hard time keeping his oxygen saturation above 90%. So we cuddled with the oxygen and gave him time to rest. Tonight he is tired but seems happy to be home. I can't imagine what goes through his head when he is at the hospital and goes through all of this. I wish he could tell me how he feels and could tell me if he is scared or in pain. Now he is resting on his blanket watching TV. I am so happy to see him comfortable and resting. We will continue to pray for our little boy. He is our angel on earth!