About Me

Hi! I'm Becky. I'm 35 years old and reside in Michigan with my husband Chris and our fur baby (a cat) Alexis. I have one sibling, an older brother Chris.

My parents had no idea there was anything different about me untill the day I was born. Boy did I suprise them! I was born with Esophageal Atresia and Trachea Esophageal Fistula(commonly called Ea/Tef).The doctors in Lansing (where I was born) at that time had never seen a case of ea/tef and were dumbfounded as to what to do with me. So for the time being they gave me a gtube and also put another catheter in the upper part of the esophagus by going through my back under my right shoulder blade for drainage of my secreations. For the first two year of my life that is how I lived life. The doctors basically handed me to my parents and said there ya go, take her home and raise her. My parents had no home nursing. They did it all on thier own, tubing feedings, sham feedings, changing feeding tubes and drainage tubes, suctioning..you name it they did it. At 2 yrs old I finally had my join up surgery, they did a gastic transposition. Which seemed to work for the most part, except that I choked quite often when I ate, and any time I drank anything very cold and/or thin I would cough and gag.

I  was sick quite often through out my childhood with respiratory infections, broncitis, and pnemonia. My mom all along supected another TEF, doctors wouldnt listen to her..even told her once it was her fault that I was sick and she wasn't take care of me..this went on for years..they did test after test after test, you name it I had the dang test to find out what the problem was. Finally they listened to my mom and thinned out the barium when they did an upper gi and lo and be hold they found a TEF! I was 12 years old when they found it! Gee..guess the doctors should of listened sooner!

At 13 yrs old I had a colonic interposition done, they ended up doing it 3 surgeries(was only suppose to be 2 surgeries.). First one they took out my old esophagus, moved my stomach back down to my abdomen from my chest cavity, gave me a gtube, and a spit fistula and took out 2 lobes of my right lung(we found out it was very damaged and part of it didnt work due to all the scar tissue from the previous surgeries and past infections). A week after I was home from the hopsital the rest of the right lung collapased, so back in to hospital I went and had to have it removed. That set the final surgery for my tef repair back a little farther. So I was 14 by the time I had my colonic interposition actually done, and my new esophagus in and working. Of course during all this I had trouble coming off the ventilator(don't remember why) and ended up having to be trached. I had my trach for about a little less then a year and was able to be decannulated. I finally was tube free for the first time in years. And we thought this was this was the end of my stuggles of fighting to stay healthy. Boy were we wrong, read on!

I was trach and feeding tube free till I was 18 and in my senior year of high school. I got very sick with psemonas pnemonia, and went into respiratory failure.  I was placed on a ventilator and retrached.  We found out during that hospitalization that I have a servere type of sleep apena where my I would basically stop breathing and retain co2.  Because of that my co2 levels were very, which caused me to be very tired and wore out all the time which in turn caused me to get sick. I was also very underweight because of being so sick so it was decided that I needed another feeding tube, this time I got a jtube. The doctors didn't want to risk the chance of me aspirating while I was sleeping since I'm trached and on vent for sleeping.

Its been 16 years since being retrached and having my jtube placed, which I still have both of and will have for the rest of my life.  It sounds strange but having a feeding tube, a trach, and using a ventilator when I sleep has been best thing that every happen to me. They  gave me my life back.  I won't lie, it was a long, hard journey to get where I currently am in my life, happy, healthy, and living a very fullfilling life. I had moments I didnt think I'd make it but I fought hard, and was determined, even on those days I wondered why me?, and wanted to throw in the towel. But I'm too subborn and I don't like the word "No". Its not in my vocabulary. I also like to remember this saying when I get fustrated and have a bad day, "Challenages are invetiable, but defeat isn't a option".

With all that said, I hope by sharing my story that it will give others hope, and let them know even though it can be a long rough road that it does get easier and better with time. And remember if you want something bad enough you can achieve it, sometimes it just takes a little longer and alittle more work. So don't ever give up because dreams and goals can come true if you want it badly enough..mine did!