7 Months on a ventilator and counting due to covid - ICUsteps

ICUsteps

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7 Months on a ventilator and counting due to covid

Livinglifeachday profile image
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Hello everyone, it's been a while since I last posted an update on my mother. Shes going on 7 months being hospitalized on February 24th due to covid. It seems like an eternity but i'm just glad she has made improvements.

After months of not being able to move and doctor's stopping PT/OT because it was too harsh on my mom's body and doctor's telling us that she might not come off the vent, it looks like my mom has turned a corner. She recently re-started PT/OT and she has progressed so much. She is now able to stand with minimal help (well help from the walker) and started doing back and forth step motions to get her strong enough to have her walk.

Also, after a couple of months of my mother being on A/C on 35-45% FiO2 due to having been transferred to the ICU twice because of extremely high levels of Co2 (1150-170), and her doctors stooping weening orders, my mom has now recently been able to tolerate weaning again! for the most part she is on CPAP at around 28% FiO2 and pressure support and PEEP of 20/5. Although RT's still have to sometimes get her back on A/C at 35% FiO2 to give her body a rest, things are looking more promising now. I just pray that mom will be home soon.

My mom's only concern is that she has a very strong cough that sometimes cannot stop and causes her to desat. Is this common for Trachy patients to have an exaggerated cough for a lot of the times? Also, anyone that has been through a similar experience, Once you start hitting the 20% range in FiO2, at what point can patients be disconnected from the vent and be trialed on supplemental oxygen to see if they can tolerate that? Any help would be great!

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Livinglifeachday
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Sepsur profile image
Sepsur

I wasn’t intubated for as long as your Mum, especially once I was awake- 57 days in coma - trachy / prob another 10-14 days on vents dropped down through CPAP peep nebuliser and nasal prongs.

I had a cough for a long long time, probably 1-2yrs after ICU - caused in part by a nasal drip.

I was told also that my strong cough had saved my life- because it was clearing my lungs

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