Partial cricoid trachael resection…ok maybe not.

So we came to the hospital today fully expecting to have the above named procedure. For this procedure they cut out a section of his trachea and sew the two ends back together. This would have necessitated a two week hospital stay and would have been a difficult recovery.
So we got to the hospital and the Dr. (well Dr’s as we had two top notch surgeons working on Greyson this time) talked about trying to place a stent in his airway instead of cutting out the bad section. The feeling was if this worked it would be much less invasive (with MUCH lower risks of complications) and if it didn’t they could go ahead with the resection.
Well it took A LONG time (just as long as it would have taken to do the resection) to get the stent in, but they did and feel there is very positive about the way things look. So what will happen now is we will continue on with life (leaving the hospital probably tomorrow!) with the trach tube still in place. Meanwhile the hope is that his trachea wall will get stronger. In a couple months (2-3) we will go in and take out the stent. Then we will wait and see how things look. If a couple months go by and he it remains looking good, we will then pull the trach out and move on with life. If it doesn’t stay looking good we will then schedule another surgery where they will do the resection we thought we were having done today.
So basically this became another option to try before going to the drastic step of a resection. While there is slight sadness that the trach is still with us, it is more than made up for by 1)the fact that we get to go home soon (probably tomorrow!) and 2) the fact that they did not have to cut on his airway. So this is a positive outcome and we are thanking God for the way he has been at work.