Trach conference

Zoo

Menna (she's darling)
Evan, Dr. Cotton and our friend Sara in 2006

Some of the kids outside Newport Aquarium
Evan and Eric (Ann's son)
Jacob at the gala

Evan and I went to Cincinnati Wednesday thru Sunday for the tracheostomy.com conference. As many of you know, I became a member of this online community when Evan had his trach and have not left it yet! In 2003, a group of us talked about how fun it would be to actually get together and meet in person and we did in St. Louis in June of 2004. It was not only a social gathering but a conference too-we were able to get Dr. Cotton (Evan's ENT) on board from the very beginning-this man is like a rock star to parents such as myself! He's very famous within the trach community and people from all over the world bring their children with airway issues to him. Anyhow, he's from Cincinnati Children's and he came to St. Louis in 2004 and 2006 but suggested we have it in Cincinnati in 2008. Lucky for me, right? My wonderful friend Ann has coordinated each conference-it takes alot of work and patience but she does it and we're all extremely grateful!! We went to Newport Aquarium Thursday night (had the place to ourselves) and then had dinner at the zoo on Saturday night. Friday night was spent at the hotel at the gala-the kids had a ball dancing and we had a very nice dinner as well. Mike came down in time for dinner on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend with us. Evan was able to give his two favorite doctors a hug-Dr. Cotton and Dr. Kaul (his GI). They loved every minute of it. Actually, Evan practically knocked Dr. Cotton down when he came into the hotel because he ran to him and just threw his arms around him. It was very cute. I had so much fun with my friends-lots of talking, laughing and oh yes, some drinking took place as well!! I'm going through post-conference withdrawal. :( It's so hard to say good-bye to everyone once it's over. Don't ask me why I don't have any pictures of me with my friends-duh!!!