Happy Decanniversary!

One year ago today we celebrated the removal of Rhett’s trach. A day I once thought may never come.

Happy decanniversary, Rhett!

Decannulation is the process of removing a person’s tracheostomy when they no longer need it. Today is the one year anniversary of Rhett having his trach removed for good, so we call it his Decanniversary.

Thinking back to when we were in the thick of our trach journey, here are some things that I learned:

✨Be patient. Things do not always happen according to our own timeline.

✨God’s timing is always best. There were many times we thought the trach would be removed sooner, only to have another obstacle and disappointment get in the way. Each time God said “not yet” was because Rhett‘s body was just not ready.

✨Never lose hope. It is so hard to stay hopeful when time after time you are faced with disappointment. Staying hopeful kept me going to get us to the day we could finally say bye to the trach life for good.

✨Trust the process. So many times I researched and tried to figure out how to speed the process along. That was honestly a waste of time. Once I learned to trust the process and the journey, I was able to enjoy life, even with the trach.

✨I can be in charge of my own thoughts and actions. Once I let go of the trach controlling my life, we were able to truly live life to the fullest. I learned to focus on all that we could do, instead of what we could not do. I learned that although our life was different than expected, it was still so so good. I learned that the trach was not taking away from our life, but actually giving the gift of life to our son.

✨There is so much power in a mindset shift. I learned to shift my perspective and embrace where we were each step of the way. I wasn’t always happy about results along the way. There were a lot of tears and a lot of anger. Acknowledging my thoughts and processing my grief of the life I thought we would have has been a huge part in shifting my mindset.

✨Life can be both incredibly challenging and incredibly beautiful all rolled into one. I have learned that when you face obstacles, struggles, and challenges along the way, the victory of getting to the other side is so sweet.

✨Take nothing for granted. Often times we go through life being able to do so many things that we forget that something so normal and necessary, such as breathing, can be a challenge for many people.

So today we celebrate. We celebrate life, we celebrate air, and we celebrate breathing with and without a trach. Because even though we are incredibly thankful the trach is no longer a part of our life, we are even more thankful for the life it gave to our son for 4 1/2 years.