You can say I didn't have the typical entrance into the world. I was scheduled to say hi to Mother Earth in November but my anxious ass decided that I wanted to come out during Leo season in August. (No offense to Scorpios, I represent via my ascending sign 😉) Anywho, I was one hell of a premie which caused some complications to say the least. I couldn't breathe that well and so the doctors had to do an emergency surgery and bless me with a tracheostomy. If you are like, what's that? Well, I'll have Mayo Clinic help you out.
Tracheostomy (tray-key-OS-tuh-me) is a surgically created hole through the front of your neck and into your windpipe (trachea). The term for the surgical procedure to create this opening is tracheotomy.
A tracheostomy provides an air passage to help you breathe when the usual route for breathing is somehow obstructed or impaired. A tracheostomy is often needed when health problems require long-term use of a machine (ventilator) to help you breathe. In rare cases, an emergency tracheotomy is performed when your airway is suddenly blocked, such as after a traumatic injury to your face or neck.
When a tracheostomy is no longer needed, it's allowed to heal shut or is surgically closed. For some people, a tracheostomy is permanent. Source)
With such a major surgery, you could view this as a rather traumatic way to be born and I'm sure there's some truth to it but I'd like to look at it as more so an interesting unique story to share with folks who are curious about my indentation on my neck.
I also have some cool memories of my time in and out of the hospital for the first years of my life. Two of them, of course, relate to food. What can I say? I guess my greedy ass was just born this way. Anyway, I remember one of the nurses sneaking me chocolate pudding in the middle of night, and being so excited about it in the dimly lit room. I also remember hanging out with my medical staff and being asked if I've ever tried corn flakes. I've never had them but I was always curious about what they tasted like when I saw the constant commercials on TV. So once the opportunity came to try them, I was ready and guess what? I was absolutely no fan. The last memory is unique from the other two. I remember being scared when all the doctors and nurses surrounded me with their masks and then waking up in a totally new space, puzzled by what just happened. Anesthesia was a foreign concept at that point.
So my little tracheostomy is a wonderful reminder of how blessed I am to be alive and how wonderful my family - blood-related and medically-unrelated truly is to have worked so hard for my life. I will always be grateful.
I'm sharing this story because I just want all of us to embrace our differences and realize just how beautiful our uniqueness truly is when we engage and learn more about our scars!