hey guys. wondering if anyone here has any personal or professional knowledge of medical ventilators? specifically, what should one expect when visiting a patient who is on a vent? how often do people wean and leave the facility of their own accord?

ian's mom called us last night about 10 to tell us she had the flu and would be calling 911. however, after 1/2 hour we hadn't heard any sirens race past our house (which is weird in and of itself, but after expecting to hear something, even moreso). ian ended up calling to request EMS go check on her. at 4:15 the ICU nurse called us to let us know they would be tubing her and we need to come pick up her housekey so we can care for her cat while she's in the hospital.

i used to work in a hospital as a CNA, but my experience was on a general medicine floor. sick but not SICK patients, if you get what i'm saying. i've been up since the phone call, worried that this woman will not leave the hospital upright. she is not healthy by any stretch of the imagination - emphysema, CHF and chronic pain issues. i don't want to worry ian needlessy, but my limited medical background is causing me to worry about her.

and one more request: if you guys could pray for her, or send vibes, or whatever it is that you guys do so well, it would be greatly appreciated too.

i'll try to get back on with an update after we talk with the docs. hopefully it will be nothing...

kris

I wrote an article once about people who are on vents long-term or even permanently, and all the ones I talked to got along that way really well, all things considered. Most people are only on them short-term, until they get well enough to not need them, but there are people who have them all the time. There are worries, of course -- power outages and such -- but my mother-in-law was on one for a couple of weeks a few years ago when she had an aortic dissection. It made her throat sore and her voice raspy for a while afterward, but that was all.

thank you! your post is a bit of a relief to me.

i think i'm still the only person up in the house, and have tried to busy myself with laundry and dishes and other stuff, but then i see the stupid smithsonian magazine she got us for christmas last year and yep, here come the tears. i should probably shower so i'm ready to go when ian gets up.

kris

It can depend on a lot of things as to how long a person is on the vent. It depends a lot on how strong the patient is because they adjust the ventilator as to how well the person can breath unassisted. Many times they may only be on the vent a day or two until they get over the immediate crisis. The vent is used to help keep the right ratio of oxygen going to the brain so that the brain sends the correct signals to the rest of the body to breath on its own.

Depending on how strong Ians mom was going into this will determine how long she stays on the vent.

Hopefully it will only be a short time that she'll need to be on the vent and she'll get strong enough to breath on her own without it.

Sending healing thoughts to her for a speedy recovery.

I am so sorry to hear this. I have worked with vented patient for most of my 25 yr nursing career and weaning totally depends on the patient and the circumstances that deemed it necessary to intubate. Most folks without any underlying lung disease usually do well and most ICU intensivist are always trying to wean pts. ( the force of the machine can actually casue trama to the lung tissue)

It can be scary to see a loved one vented and in ICU. I hope things improve rapidly, you guys are in my thoughts and prayers

thanks you guys for taking the time to reply. we just got back from seeing her in the hospital and then tending to her house and cat. it's weird to be the family instead of the hospital employee. she seemed to wake up a little bit as we were leaving, probably a combo of being suctioned and her pain meds wearing off, i dunno. ian told her we were going to go see to her toots and she nodded. she also appeared as tho she was trying to mouth some words to him. i suggested he actually tell her he loves her then left the room.

we will go back tomorrow and check in on her. i do hope she can recover from this quickly, but am concerned because of her other chronic health issues that she's gonna run into some complications. we don't have the best relationship, but it's hard to see her so vulnerable.

kris

Its tough to see a family member with tubes and stuff coming off of them. But you're being there, just letting them know you care does help.

Over the past month my cousin was in and out of the hospital and several times she had to be intibated and she hated it. Its not a comfortable thing for them at all. She would want to talk and we encouraged her to save her strength and work to breathing on her own so she could have the tube taken out sooner. Rather than try and talk we encouraged her to squeeze our hand to communicate.

Remember, she's still a mom, even though her kids are grown up, and she's trying to protect them from seeing her that way and trying to assure you that she's OK.

You might be surprised that your relationship with her could improve if you also take her hand and show some compassion. By the simple act of touching it helps her to know that you guys are ok and she can concentrate on getting better and not worrying about how she can make Ian and you more comfortable around her.

Hopefully, this will just be a short stay. Tell her that her cat is fine but misses her so she has to concentrate her energies on getting better so she can get home for the cat.

sending healing thoughts and prayers your way!! hope thigns will turn out ok for you and family.

many times they put a person on the vent to give the lungs a "rest" that is probably what they are doing for her since she has underlying lung issues. It allows the machine to do the work and her actual lung muscles to get a little rest and get stronger. Usually the biggest concerns with being on them long term is infection and damage to the vocal cords but she would need to be on it for months before that is usually a concern.

I hope she is feeling better - the fact that she was awake and alert is a good sign as they often sedate people on vents so that they don't fight the machine.

the nurse told ian today that she wouldn't remember anything due to all the meds she's on, so even if she responded to him yesterday, she wouldn't remember it. we went to see her today. her oxygen requirement has gone from 100% yesterday to 30% today. she's septic from all the infection running thru her system, and she had a fever of 102* earlier but it's down to 99.something with tylenol on board. her chest xray looks better today than yesterday. the nurse tonight said they might try weaning her off the vent in a few days, and after she can successfully be on her own, things *should improve more rapidly. she's got a lot of infection and is on 3 antibiotics.

i'm thinking i may need to bring her cat home with us temporarily until she can go home, IF she can go home. i've got some concerns about her ability to live alone, but that's another story for another time. i'm concerned that toots might get depressed because she's so used to having ian's mom home with her most all the time. she's not eaten much from what we left her with yesterday, but she did come out and interact with us for a little bit while we were there.

so anyway, i guess things are looking up, little by little. thanks for the prayers and good vibes. it really means a lot

kris

Glad she's doing better. Hopefully the antibiotics will get her cleared up soon.

How old is your mother in law? Still sending good healing mojo her way.

well she's awake and talking, but a little confused at times. she didn't recognize us when we got there, thought we were hospital employees. she was telling ian how wonderful her son is and thankfully she didn't tell him how horrible her daughter in law is

but she's awake, her BP is getting better and her fever is hovering around 100.5* or so, unmedicated. her lungs sound very clear - no crackles just some wheezes, but that's something i would expect with her underlying disease. i believe she's 60, soon to be 61. she should be able to go home relatively soon as long as she continues to improve, but probably not before the weekend is up anyway, so we will be a 2 cat/3 bird household for a little bit.

thanks for the continued good thoughts. i hope to be on here complaining about her soon, instead of worried.

kris

thanks for the update. im so glad and relived to see that she is improving. you and your family are still in my thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for her.