trach from throat cancer

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jmedler
jmedler Member Posts: 1
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

My father has had a trach now since February 2015. He was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer which was on his voicebox. We found this out on a Friday and that Monday morning went in for surgery to have the trach placed. He has since finished his radiation and chemo treatments. He still has a ton of swelling from the radiation but it is starting to go down. He is in the process of starting to cap thr trach so thst we can finally, hopefully, remove it. My question is for anyone that has had their trach removed. Did the mucus get better after if was removed. Were you able to keep the cap on 24/7 before it was removed? Was breathing difficult at first after they removed it? My father is scared to get it removed because he can't leave the cap on all the time. The pressure in the tube builds up abd he has to remove. Also when he coughs he removes it.

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  • wmc
    wmc Member Posts: 1,804
    #2
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    Welcome to the H&N Group

    Welcome, and also sory you need to be here. I will have to let some of the others answer about the trach. My tomur was just ablve my vocal cords and I had surgery, and a neck dissedtion on both sides to remove 86 lymph glands. They aslo took my larynx so my airway is seperated and I can only breath through my neck as I have a stoma. When thet remove the trach his mucus will be reduced but it might take a little time. The human body prodices 1 1/2 liter of mucus in 24 hours. Now you produce mucus and the cillia just cleans and works it up and over and you just swallow it and never know it.  When the trach is closed and the tubes are gone he will cough just like you do and he use to do. Might feel strange at first, but he will adjust back to the old way of breating.

    Bill

  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #3
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    wmc said:

    Welcome to the H&N Group

    Welcome, and also sory you need to be here. I will have to let some of the others answer about the trach. My tomur was just ablve my vocal cords and I had surgery, and a neck dissedtion on both sides to remove 86 lymph glands. They aslo took my larynx so my airway is seperated and I can only breath through my neck as I have a stoma. When thet remove the trach his mucus will be reduced but it might take a little time. The human body prodices 1 1/2 liter of mucus in 24 hours. Now you produce mucus and the cillia just cleans and works it up and over and you just swallow it and never know it.  When the trach is closed and the tubes are gone he will cough just like you do and he use to do. Might feel strange at first, but he will adjust back to the old way of breating.

    Bill

    Trach

    I would consider Bill the trach expert on this site. I had a very short term one with initial surgery, did not leave hospital with it. I did not do well with it at all, was amazed at how quickly it healed once removed.

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