Kat, if it's not the wrong (and never right) time to ask, what are the goals of this procedure specifically?

Each time it's a larynoscopy and bronchoscopy. So technically it is just to look. But they are checking the size of the opening. Doc also either dilates or lasers scar tissue. Ultimately we hope for decannulation. Sigh. I would like for this to be a faster process but oh well.

Better slow but done well, right? Still, ugh.

I totally agree. Except we do this every 8-10 weeks and we have been doing it for two years now. As Grace gets older it gets harder because she is more aware and she gets way more upset.

Yeah, that sounds terrible for everyone.

The fun part is Grace is totally princess of the procedures unit. They love her as does admitting. Today there was a crowd in her room watching her play a game on the iPad.

Poor noodle. I was in and out of hospitals constantly at that age until I was about 8, and I remember it getting easier when I got to an age where the gross medical stuff started to get interesting. (And by the time I was 6 I had mastered the art of riding my IV pole as a scooter down the halls, which the nurses loved...good times, good times!)

Found out why people gripe so much about paying for their kids' dentistry. I'm stepping in to pick up the tab for the work my mom's getting done this week, and the only things I've ever paid more for had seatbelts.

It'll probably have a good effect on my own dental health though, as I'm unlikely to chip any teeth on the ramen noodles I'll be eating for the next couple of years.

For misc work reasons, today I have come across the obituaries of what sound like two great New York ladies. [link] [link] Enjoy.

And dental insurance is, generally speaking, crap.

Yeah, I'm going to be paying more than twice as much as her insurance is. Whereas in my experience that ratio tends to be reversed with regular medical insurance.