Vocal Sounds

When Roscoe got his trach tube inserted, we weren't sure how much we'd hear his voice. The reason they put in a trach tube was to consistently deliver controlled air to his lungs with a good seal. Part of the downside of that "good seal" is that it blocks air from coming back up, including air he'd use to make sounds when he talks back to us. Often Roscoe will scrunch his face up as he cries, but no sound comes out at all. It's like having a mute button on a baby.

His current trach tube (his 3rd in less than a week) has an inflatable cuff that allows them to close off his airway for complete control. When we arrived at UCSF, they chose to deflate the cuff from 2cc to 1.75cc to give a small airway leak. They did this to make sure that his airway wasn't getting too much constant pressure, which might prevent blood flow and cause parts of it to deteriorate. Now that he has the constant air leak, there is always air coming back up through his vocal chords and out of his mouth or nose. This means that not only do we get to hear his voice, but we get to hear his voice even when he isn't intending to speak. Here's a video we tried to take with Alisha's cell phone (not as high quality as usual) to show what it sounds like:

Today they will replace his trach tube again (it gets replaced once per week), but we're not sure at what point during the day that will happen. Aside from that, the only other plans for today are to make progress on his breathing by possibly weaning the nitric oxide more slowly (dropping from 15ppm to 14ppm, instead of directly to 10ppm).