Mary Anne,

DH had a trach and it was really slow to heal due to the rads which were in the vicinity of his trach. (Normally they heal up in a matter of a few eeks...DH's took months to heal.) A lot of people I ahve talked to have been slow to heal after rads...whether it was a neck resection or mouths healing from dental work that was done prior to surgery that took up to six months to heal enough to get dentures. I only mention this because rads can significnatly slow down healing and you might want to discuss this with the doc before he starts cutting.

As for the trach, I had to clean it four times a day to start with and then was able to drop back to twice a day. It is a lot of work, but it is important to keep it clean to prevent infection. I also had a knock down drag out with the home health service when they tried to make me reuse the disposable trach cleaning kits. I told them I was not comfortable reusing a disposable kit on a man who was immune compromised. They called the clinic and talked to a resident, but failed to mention that they were talking about a disposable kit that was not made for sterilization, so he told them it was OK. I called the Head Honcho and told him what was going on and he said to ONLY use a fresh kit each time. I then promptly fired the home health service. I lost all trust in them for trying to cut corners to save a few dollars at the risk of my DH's health, I was mad at them for going over my head to the clinic and not telling the resident the whole story, and when I called them to tell them why I didn't want them back in the house, I told thm they were there to make our lives easier, not to put my husband at risk or cause me more problems.

Don't let ANYONE bully you...do what you think is in your DH's best interest and stick to your guns.