Tonya,

I'm glad David got the mucous cleared up. Just a word of caution on cleaning the trach. We cleaned Heather's twice a day, even if she wasn't having trouble. The key to preventing trouble was keeping up with routine maintenance. Cleaning it daily and using the saline regularly were very important. We also discovered it is not usually a good idea to leave the small inner trach tube out. When the gunk builds up in the large tube, it is much harder to clean. Take the small tube out, clean it and put it back in. You can avoid some major problems this way. Heather also for awhile had a "mist machine". With it on, a mist went directly in the trach keeping things moist all the time. Sometimes she only needed it for a few hours. Other times she would keep it on longer. If David does his maintenance and still has problems, you should ask the doctor about the machine.

I think getting the nerve block is a good idea and hopefully it will help. Please let us know the results. If it doesn't control the pain, there may be something else going on that the docs need to address.

Rosie