Simply put - she is amazing. There have been zero complications from the surgery, aside from infrequent complaints about her incision hurting. If Jamie's ordeal is a sign of things to come, these infrequent pain complaints will not go away. She is currently going through her third cold since the surgery and all three colds have run the normal course of a cold (never thought I'd be so excited over a cold). Big difference compared to the repeated pneumonias, nasal infections, & ear infections of the past.
Though she has not been medically cleared from asthma, I have stopped giving her the Singulair that she is supposed to take, and this was the last asthma medication she was on. I haven't given her any in nearly a month and there is no difference in her. When she plays, she still gets slightly out of breath, but not nearly as bad as it used to be. We haven't even used the inhaler since the surgery. We were told that this may take a year to completely go away, as the cartilage in her trachea needs that much time to expand to normal size. Therefore, she appears to be healing as expected.
Our next step is a visit with the area geneticist in March to see if there may be some sort of genetic link between all of Amber's complications since birth (umbilical hernias, delayed speech & hearing issues, aortic arch, etc.). Unfortunately, we recently found out that my cousin has a genetic condition called Lynch Syndrome - a genetic mutation that significantly increases the risk of a particular group of cancers including colorectal (bowel) cancer; endometrial and ovarian cancer; cancers of the stomach, small bowel, kidney, brain, pancreas, ureter and skin. Most common are bowel and endometrial cancers and the risk can be up to 80% higher than in the general population. This will be a good chance to get Amber screened since we'll already be there, as there are preventative things we can do to prevent this.
We wish everyone reading this post a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.
