My dad is back on a ventilator

Hi my dad is currently in ICU with Covid pnemonia for the past two weeks. On Sunday he was taken off the ventilator and put on cPap and the bubble helmet. I spoke to him and we was all over the moon but he's been very agitated and has not been able to remove the mucus on his own and he now has another infection. So they have sedated him again and he's back on the ventilator. We are just so sad and drained his lungs havent worsened they said but his chest has. What does this mean has anyone overcome these obstacles.

[1212abx]

Hi. Sorry to read that you're going through this. My dad was in ICU for 66 days and got down to being on CPAP mode of the ventilator for around a week. He then started struggling and went back to being more supported by the ventilator and his sedation increased. This went on for weeks before he finally improved. From what I read and have experienced, it is a big up and down rollercoaster. Hang in there. Keep willing and praying him on. I wish you and him all the very best

[Hidden in reply to 1212abx]

Yes you just feel so hopeless. After speaking to him last few days we all thought that was it but it's all come crashing down again.so glad your dad's improving it's good to hear people have been in the same situation and begin to recover.

[Paulosull in reply to 1212abx]

Hi 1212, how long did it take your dad to imptove in icu was he at same level for while in icu?

My dad in over 5 weeks and they say cant do much more hes in ot around 35% oxygen cpap and they talking about ethical decision in couple of days....any help would be grest

[1212abx in reply to Paulosull]

Hi Paulosull. Sorry to read about what you're going through. Settings did fluctuate during his stay and did improve and stop etc many times. He was on ICU for 66 days in total and improved at first and declined but picked back up. Such a rollercoaster. I had to get my head around the fact of many different ventilator parameters and not just focus on any one. My dad was coming down on oxygen requirements, but the pressure support volume was very high, meaning the machine had to do most of the work and pump and push large volumes of air into the lungs and back out again. We were told that things were declining and he wasn't just picking up. We were told that he may have irreversible substantial scarring of the lungs meaning that their capacity could be just 10% of his pre covid lungsThings suddenly started to improve for us.

Try and be comforted in the fact that the doctors and nurses are highly trained and are very caring. They'll do all they can and look down all avenues

I constantly told myself and the family of the fact that my dad was mainly unaware of what was going on, totally comfortable and pain free throughout. They know this as they check breathing rates and temperatures and other things. One example was when my dad was given a bit more work of his breathing, his heart rate and respiratory rates increased... then some pain medication given and all settled down again. The nurses would tell him about the things they were doing (such as adjusting a setting, clearing some lung fluid, taking a temperature reading etc).

Hang on in there. Keep willing him on and praying for his recovery. He is being well looked after I'm sure

Take care

[LeopardGecko]

It is definitely a rollercoaster ride. My relative came off the ventilator but began to struggle so they put her back on the ventilator for a bit longer. A few weeks later and she now has a tracheostomy and is slowly improving.

[Hidden in reply to LeopardGecko]

They've said they are planning on doing a trachy, he has lots of mucus so they've been draining it all day and he's been working with the physio on coughing just need this to clear, I'm glad to hear of improvement of your relative.

[Sepsur in reply to Hidden]

Trachy is positive 😊

[Delel]

Exactly same situation for me. Iam still waiting😪

[Hidden in reply to Delel]

Awful isnt it 🙏

[FamilyHistorian]

I kept getting infections and was sedated/ ventilated for nearly 2 months. I had a trachy fitted just after my op and although agitated I didn’t try and pull that out. All the tubes etc were fair game!