Having had two children with Trachies(Tracheotomy is the operation, Tracheostomy is the actual Trachey in the throat) we know a fair bit about them. When our son Bodee was about to get his, it was the scariest thing, but after he had it we realised what a great thing it was. The Doctors & Nurses tried to get him on an oxygen bottle, but he wouldn't take to it, & to be honest I'm glad he didn't. Yes people could see the Trachey & would look, but to us it was easy to maintain & he always had plenty of air. You could also see the difference in his growth, from not much, to doing well. Then our daughter Kayla came along who had the same syndrome, so we were already prepared for hers' after dealing with Bodees'

We also noticed over the period that Bodee had his Trachey, there were two groups of people. There were the ones that were almost anti Trachey or anti the knife & had a group they wanted you to belong to, then there was people like us who are pro Trachies & realise that without them our kids would probably die. Yes Trachies are invasive, but the benefits out way any side issues that occur. Issues like water, dust, sand & fumes, these can either be avoided like fumes or managed like water, as your child obviously needs to bath but you just need to use a thermo-vent or two & stay with them it's easy really. Other issues may include going out in public & having to deal with the lookers! There are generally 3 types of people who look. There's the ones who we like which notice & will ask you a question, lets face it we all look at people with disabilities & people with disabilities don't mind a hello & a question, then there's the shy person who would like to say something but feels it would be rude & has a couple of sneak peeks, & finally there's the real rude buggers who you find in every isle staring at you or your kids, or they literally follow you around the store staring, this is when(well in our case) you give them a piece of your mind, don't be shy, let them have it, it soon sorts them out.

IN CLOSING: Trachies can be scary but in the greater scheem of things they're great. Not all things can be fixed with a pill, & like in our case sometimes the knife is the only answer. Stay strong & it will all begood in the end.