Joshua Mullon
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Hi I am Joshua! My twin, Tyler, and I were born 9 weeks premature in June of 1999. Tyler weighed 3 lbs. even and only required a 6 week stay in the NICU so he could learn how to suck, swallow and breath while he ate.
Me on the other hand, I had a different road to travel. I was born with Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS) and only weighed 2 lbs. 3
oz. After I was born I was transferred to Children's Hospital, which was across the street.
They put a g-tube in pretty quick because it took two hours to intubate me and my throat got really scratched up. I had to be on a immobilizing medicine to sedate me for two weeks so that my throat could heal up.
Once they diagnosed me with PRS they tried to do a tongue-lip adhesion to get me off of the ventilator.
That failed a week later so then we opted for the trach. I got that when I was 9 weeks old.
Shortly after, I got transferred to a rehab hospital so that my mommy and daddy could learn how to take care of me.
I was able to come home at 15 weeks old … mommy never thought that day would come.
They were excited and scared at the same time. I had nurses to take care of me during the night so that mommy and daddy could keep up with everything else, like feeding my twin during the night.
Exactly a week after I came home, mommy checked on me and I was gray in color and really trying to breath hard.
She checked my sats and they were in the 80's. She had to use the ambu bag on me to keep my sats up in the 90's. Daddy called 911 and they came to take me to the hospital.
An x-ray showed that I had pneumonia, so I got to stay in the hospital again for another two weeks.
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When I was a year old I got my cleft palate repaired and ear tubes put in because of all the ear infections I had from my cleft palate.
The surgery went well, and we were given the go ahead to try to feed. Well, I still had my trach in so I really wasn't very interested in swallowing, so mommy and daddy didn't push it too much.
On February 20th, 2001, I was decannulated! Mommy and daddy were so happy about the news.
Mommy was being pessimistic the day we tried decannulation, but I knew I was ready to get the trach out then and not wait any longer.
I have been doing great ever since and am now hardly using my g-tube at all since I like to swallow now! I'm still not saying words very much, I babble a LOT though and will sure tell a story in my own language.
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We live in Northern Virginia and I'm getting ready to start preschool through the Child Find program for my developmental delays. I'm really looking forward to playing with a bunch of other kids and my brother!
Write us at bernieandsharon@hotmail.com. We would love to hear from you.
