Miriam went in today to scope and, if necessary, and excision of any cyst which had formed on her vocal folds. In the 18 hours prior to this morning her voice had begun to make extra noises again. And her breathing was much more noisy than the previous nights since the last excision, but it was not nearly to the level of the weekend before the last one.
We started 2 hours late, but Miriam was once again in very good spirits. She is really used to all of these routines, is very cooperative, and is very smart / aware of what is going on. She was very tired though.
Her anesthesia doctor geeked out over the VEPTR a bit. :)
Dr Nowlin was not sure what to expect going in. The initial cyst was unusual: this type of cyst is generally caused by irritation from long intubations, much longer than she has had. He did not expect any regrowth.
After the procedure, he reported that the cyst was returning but about 20% the size of the first time. He is extremely puzzled – he’s never seen a case like this and he’s been doing this a long time.
Miriam has a prescription for an oral steroid (basically flonase in an inhaler) to help control inflammation to hopefully reduce any potential irritation. Using the inhaler should prevent any issues with recovering from the VEPTR-related procedures and keep her immune system up.
We will take her back in if she has any of the same symptoms again. Otherwise, her ENT will be able to scope again during her VEPTR adjustments. This will avoid extra anesthesia and will allow them to have a reference point if something else comes up after the next procedure.
St Blase, pray for us.
Miriam is feeling pretty good and recovering well:
That picture made me smile so big. :)