Sarah
 |
Sarah and her twin sister Amy were born on the 3rd of December 2000 at 11.10pm and 11.11pm respectively. After what seemed a smooth labor, Sarah went into fetal distress so finally an emergency caesarian section was performed. Both girls spent the next 3 weeks in a special care nursery finally coming home just before Christmas. Sarah always had unusually noisy breathing (stridor) especially when feeding or sleeping. She also had an unusual way of extending her neck backwards. Later this was shown to be the way in which could breathe past the obstruction in her throat. At 6 weeks we noticed the stridor becoming increasingly loud almost sounding like a harmonica. After several visits to hospital we were informed that she probably had a condition known as laryngomalacia (floppy larynx). Unfortunately this turned to be incorrect and in late February Sarah's condition worsened. We took her to Fremantle Hospital on Tuesday 20th February 2001 where she was placed in an oxygen box. Due to her lack of response to this treatment she was rushed to our leading children's hospital (PMH). On the 27th February her tumor was found and a tracheostomy was inserted below the obstruction enabling her to breathe. Sarah spent a week in ICU and 7 weeks on the infants ward. When she finally allowed home she still spent her nights for 6 weeks in Fremantle Hospital. The tumor was diagnosed as an hemangioma (benign). This was treated by 4 injection of steroids directly injected into tumor. This procedure was performed in theatre under anaesthetic. Sarah is now 14 months old and the tumor is recessing and we are awaiting her next review hopefully in April this year.
Update - 24th January 2003: Sarah has finally made it and was successfully decannulated!!! As you can imagine we are overjoyed. Her surgeon viewed her trachea through a small nasal camera on the 15th January and told us the good news her trachea was free of any obstruction and that he would try and decannulate her the following week. Sarah went to hospital at 7.30 am and was decannulated at 12pm on the 22nd January. At 12.20pm she ate a full bowl of spaghetti bolognaise with vegetables much to the amazement of nurses and doctors. She stayed overnight with great oxygen saturation of between 96% and 100%. She knows something is different and hasn't stopped talking, yelling and running around since she has been home. Now her twin Amy has some real competition.
 |
Day After
 |
First Lunch
For more information please see Sarah's web page at http://sarahslife.topcities.com
