Almost 60 years ago, I worked in a charity hospital in Texas that had no air conditioning, still allowed patients to smoke in bed, housed patients in wards with anywhere from four to fifteen people in a single room, and admitted all kinds of folks across the spectrum — pick whatever spectrum you want, and it applies.
My first trach patient was an older, salty woman who was a lifelong smoker. She received her “trach” — short for tracheostomy, tracheotomy, trach tube, etc. — after developing throat cancer from smoking. She didn’t have a tube, just a stoma (a hole) in her throat, which she would occlude with her finger when she wanted to talk, and fill with a Marlboro when she needed a smoke. Yes, she still smoked — even after getting a trach due to cancer from smoking.
When I was first told I needed a trach tube fifty years later, my first thought was of that old lady. I thought, If she could do it and live like that, I can do it too.
II hope this blog will offer similar inspiration to its readers.
Let’s take this journey together.
In the next post, I’ll talk about the two major types of trachs: Permanent and Temporary.