Brandon - Grateful Patient of Dr. Adriane Latz

Laryngotracheal

Brandon's story: written by his mother Jen

My son, Brandon, is only alive today because of prayer and the skilled hands of an ENT surgeon named Adriane Latz. I think about her every time that I have the privilege to look at my son. He was just 13 years old when he sustained his near life ending injury to his throat.

He was riding dirt bikes with his father & brother the day his life was nearly cut short. While the others were resting in the shade on that hot, hot Sunday afternoon on July 30, Brandon decided to take his dad's bike for a ride. Brandon is what I would have called a novice rider. He didn't have much experience, especially on a bike that was bigger than the one he had normally ridden. Brandon rode the bike down into a dry pond bed and when he came back up the bank on the other side, he gave the bike too much gas and launched out of that pond bed into the air like Evil Knievel.

He was able to keep control of the bike somehow, but as he was landing the seemingly great stunt, the handlebars gave way into his lap. The uncovered area of his throat, under his helmet, slammed into the gooseneck of the bike.  Now, keep in mind that we had recently just finished a CPR class & he was certified. Brandon was able to get off the bike on his own, but he was hurt. He started clawing at his throat trying to get a breathe. He got his helmet off and remembered enough from CPR to get flat, relax, and stay still. So he dropped to the ground. It was only then that my ex-husband realized there was something seriously wrong and ran to Brandon's side. To the naked eye there was no visible injury, but he was breathing very shallow breathes. His father called 911. Life flight was dispatched due to the nature of the injury in that it was a head and neck trauma. He was in the air to Children's Mercy when I finally received the call to get there as fast as I could. 

I believe that God picked me up and dropped me on the doorsteps of the ER because I do not remember the 15 minute drive for a second. Brandon was in a neck brace when I got to see him the first time. He seemed to be in good spirits, but he was very hoarse. The ER physicians did notice that his neck was swollen so they took him for a CT scan of his head & throat. All seemed okay. Only minutes later the head ER doctor grabbed me by the hand and told me things were going to start moving quickly. Brandon's airway was shattered and he needed to be taken to surgery immediately. 

I went into shock. Brandon's body had already taken over with adrenaline, so he seemed to be okay with it all. By that time, Lee, his father, and my husband had arrived. We all went into the prep room, where Brandon was being hooked up to all kinds of tubes, IV's and medications. He finally looked really scared. My heart ached and I felt like I have been sucker punched in the stomach because I was unable to help him. I kissed him goodnight and promised that everything would be okay. I'll never forget having to walk away from him, but they were almost pushing us out the door with their urgency to move him to surgery. At that point, Brandon's young 13 year old life was out of my control and in the hands of God and the surgeon. That was at about 5 p.m. More family had arrived by that time, so we all went to the family waiting room. That is exactly why it is called that. You wait and wait and wait. It is very painful to sit there. I never want to be there again.

I had never met Dr. Latz before July 30, but about 2 hours after his surgery started, she came into the waiting room with a commanding presence. By the look on her face and the pictures in her hand, I knew that she was up against something really tough. She explained to all of us that Brandon should be dead, only in nicer terms. She showed us pictures that really looked like something from National Geographic, not my son's internal throat. From what she was telling us, Brandon's airway was blown apart, into tiny shards of bone and cartilage that was similar to broken glass. She was working on a jigsaw puzzle in the operating room. His right vocal cord was nearly severed. She promised that she would do everything she could, but that it may take some time. She warned that his healing would be extensive, so to prepare for that. I had no idea what that really meant. No one did. She left promptly, and I again felt like I was in no control and that it was in God's hands. I prayed that God would guide her hands in the repair of his injury.

The next time we got to see Brandon was in the pediatric ICU room, at nearly 2 a.m. Brandon was in surgery for 8 hours and it took them another hour to get him in the room and presentable for us to come in. His father, my husband, and I were the only one's allowed to see him in those first early morning hours. He was not the young, vigorous, active, happy, laughing Brandon that we all knew. He was a shell of Brandon, filled with tubes. He had a feeding tube through his nose, and more devastating, a trach tube in his throat. I asked, cried, begged, and pleaded to know how this could have happened.

Brandon was in the ICU for 7 days. Dr. Latz came everyday. Those days were horrific. He couldn't talk. He had to mouth words to us, which were not audible. Dr. Latz's saw him doing this the first day and immediately said NO MORE. So we bought a dry erase board and he had to write everything down. He was confused. He wanted answers. He needed to know why he couldn't go home. He had fever, chills, and the pain was starting to set in. Did I mention he had a feeding tube? Oh, and that he was 13 when this all happened. He was hungry. The medications made him delirious and sometimes very angry and agitated. He threw up his feeding tube a few times and had to lose all forms of modesty. He felt defeated and I could not do anything for him. He mouthed the words that he wished he was dead to me in front of Dr. Latz. She immediately found help for our family. She was not going to let the mental issues inhibit her miraculous repair work and his recovery. She was amazed that he was still alive, as were we by this point.

On the 8th day Brandon was allowed to move to the intermediate care level. For him, intermediate care was not much better than the grave. If he felt like it, he could get out of bed and try to move a bit and it was encouraged. He was starting to develop positional bed atrophy. He really needed to start getting used to the idea of having the trach tube, as he would be going home with it, without a doubt. Dr. Latz explained that he may even have it for the rest of his life, but recovery would strongly depend on his adherence to her plan. 

At that time, we had to go through a trach tube class to learn how to care and clean the tube and wound site. That was a treat, but I was determined to help my son anyway that I could. I discovered things about myself that I'm proud of today. During that level of care, Brandon learned a really neat stress and depression skill called imagery. In fact, as we all were there with Brandon as the steps were explained to us, we all felt better when we were done. Brandon decided that he was going to make the best of the situation too. Dr. Latz really made a great call with this. Although he still couldn't eat, as he still had that awful feeding tube, he was able to start taking what looked like baby food. He had many test to determine if the repair was successful during this time with swallow tests. That was another sci-fi time in our lives. We got to see by x-ray, a drink go into his mouth and be swallowed on a screen to see if anything he was ingesting leaked into his airway. They wanted to make sure he did not aspirate any fluids, otherwise we would have been dealing with pneumonia. Keep in mind he still was writing everything down on the dry erase board.

The day he got his feeding tube out finally, was a great day in Brandon's 13 year old life, however, he still had to consume ground up food. The look resembled that of pre-chewed food. This was so Brandon's internal injury could continue to heal. The esophagus lies next to the airway, so eating was very dangerous. Dr. Latz was very conservative in what he was allowed to do and for that I am now ever so thankful. He wanted Taco Bell and Burger King the day the tube came out, but she said no way. You can use your imagination here. Dr. Latz and her team explained to Brandon, during one of his times of need, that his life could be much worse, in that he could not even be here. Brandon again decided that he would hold his head high and be a strong survivor for which I was very proud of him.

Brandon's injury was on July 30, a Sunday. On August 12th, he was discharged with the trach tube still in as we headed home with machines, boxes of equipment and a ton of hope. Again, Dr. Latz, called nearly everyday to check on him. There were many follow up appointments with her. He has had so many things stuck up his nose and into his throat to check the recovery, that it makes my eyes water with the thought. Somehow, things were looking really good. Again, somehow, he held his head high and pushed on.

In late August, Brandon returned to school with his trach suction machine. Wow. I can't begin to explain how traumatic that was for him. The school district called in a dedicated nurse to follow Brandon from class to class with the machine in tow. That wasn’t by choice. Brandon knew how to take care of his tube by that time, but the district was also very conservative in his return and for that I am now thankful.  Brandon was mortified. He was more than embarrassed to have a nurse sitting outside the classroom door in case of emergency. It was so bad that he when he came home everyday, he was so angry that he refused to return the next day. He suffered from stares, pointing fingers, and rumor talking amongst his peers, but somehow, Brandon still pressed on.

Brandon's tube was removed in October of that year and he finally felt whole again; not like a science experiment gone wrong. He was free of, what he felt like was, the embarrassment. He finished his 8th grade year with A's on his grade card.

He is now a sophomore in high school. He is a varsity wrestler and a swimmer on his high school's team.  He is on the honor roll with A's and was recently nominated to be a student ambassador in The People to People program. He has persevered.

This is only because of prayer and the skilled hands of Adriene Latz. 

Jen
Proud mom

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