Derek Demond McPherson Jr.
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One Month Old
Derek was born on August 22, 2001 at West Jefferson Hospital in Marrero, LA. He was diagnosed with paralyze vocal cords and
Laryngomalacia (softening of the larynx) from an ENT doctor at Children's Hospital. He was later transfer to Children's Hospital on September
21, 2001. After he was transferred a day later the doctors said he will need a trach because the vocal cords wasn't opening up like they should be and that was stopping him from breathing like he should. He also made a squeaking sound when he
breathed. After the trach was put in you didn't hear a squeak out of him. The doctors said his trach was temporally.
After coming home with Derek for the first time was very stressful and hurting to see my son like he was. I couldn't hear him cry or anything. He was hook up to a monitor that lets me know he was crying. But by the grace of god he was a healthy as any other baby. He just had a trach. Derek was not on any medication or ventilators or had any heart problems. But I got through it by keeping faith in god and my mother. If it wasn't for them I don't know what I would have done by me being only 21 years old not knowing really much about being a parent but turning around be a parent with a trach child.
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6 Months Old
After six months Derek return to the doctor and they did a bronchoscopy (going through the nose with a light scope to the throat area to see if the vocal cords were moving). But only bad news came that day, the trach had to stay in for a year. A year past but and everything went OK. We went to the doctor again for the same test and some good news, the laryngomalicia was gone, the vocal cords were moving but not moving like they should. So, the doctors said they were going to the operating room and take the trach out and see how he breathes on his own. No good news they said they didn't like the way he was breathing so they put the trach back in and they found some scar tissue where the trach sits and said they would need to repair that tissue, so come back and see them in six months.
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One Year Old
Six months past. We went back to the doctor and vocal cords were moving some, but not like they wanted them to. So they said they were going to do a surgery where they take a piece of rib cartilage out of his ribs and reconstruct his throat area and see if that was the problem. Well, the surgery happened on May 14, 2003 and it was a success. He stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks and the first week he had a breathing tube and they had him paralyze and very heavy sedated, but after they took the tube out he was doing fine. He is home now, but he is still breathing hard and makes a loud noise. The doctor said his vocal cords are still not opening up like they should be. She said time will tell and he may grow out of it. So, all we have to do is wait and see what happens if it doesn't get better they may have to put the trach back in. So all I can do is pray and keep my faith in God.
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