Pancreatitis with Ventilator + Tracheostomy

[lol123458p]

21M, Went into the hospital with pancreatitis. The pain was so bad he couldn't breathe and was put on a ventilator. They tried to wean him off but he failed. He got an eye infection as well as pneumonia from it they decided to do a tracheostomy a few days ago. They woke him up 2 days ago as they wanted his eyes to heal before waking him. Yesterday his peep was at 15 and was on 25% oxygen. Today he was on 30% oxygen and the peep was above by 12. They are in the process of weaning him off. He complained of stomach pain today which they gave him some pain meds for. He is currently on propofol. How long do you think it will take for him to get off the ventilator? Are we in the right direction any advice helps?

[Sepsur]

a trachy is always a good sign as is starting to wean him & wake him up. Keeping a person on life support ( therefore needing it) is easier if the patient is sedated & paralysed - we synch with the machines better and don’t fight with the intervention. Awake is heading in the right direction from what little I know

[lol123458p in reply to Sepsur]

He has been awake for 2 says now and they said they were trying to wean him off the ventilator.

[Sepsur in reply to lol123458p]

all positive - no longer needing life support 💙

[lol123458p in reply to Sepsur]

He is on CPAP/PS mode. He is on 35% with peep at 12 and his Spo2 is between 80-92. I am wondering what these settings mean as the nurse said he was breathing mostly on his own and doing all the heard work. He was doing trials and was also fed more today thru nutrition. They said they saw improvement today. Could someone explain these settings? Is he in the right direction to be weaned off?

[FamilyHistorian in reply to lol123458p]

what is important is what the nurse has said. When interpreting figures you have to look at the whole picture. What the figures say may have had a totally different meaning for me, we are all different!

[Sepsur]

the fact that he is breathing on his own is a positive - it means his lungs haven’t deconditioned to the point where he needs constant support - I wouldn’t get too hung up on the figures because the don’t tell the whole picture.

[Raven21]

Having been in this situation it sounds like he's doing great! I was in a coma for 44 days and it was 2 weeks after tracheostomy (3rd one don't ask) that they started waking me. But I wasn't aware I was fully conscious for 7 days. I was on 4 sedation meds at any one time (sorry I don't know what they were) but if he's responsive and aware of pain, he's doing well and this is a good sign. Just be aware they'll want him to do time with the trachy in increments breathing on his own before they take it out. I had done 56 hrs straight before they said mine could come out and even then I had to wait an extra 3 days as they wouldn't remove it tol the Monday in case of complications due to less staff in at the weekend. But everything is sounding positive.

[lol123458p in reply to Raven21]

Yeah, the nurse said they were doing increments with being on the ventilator and him doing most of the work.

[Raven21]

A piece of advice I would give is keep him upbeat and positive as much as you can Once you are fully conscious, after about 5 days of having the trachy, you get to the point of being fed up and it can be a lot. I'd not been ill/hospitalised before and everything that happened to me was just so overwhelming. The nurses in the first hospital put in my notes I was an 'emotional and difficult patient'. I wasn't. I was fed up. I was 200miles from home, had lost 7 weeks if time, had no clue what had happened and had people firing information at me and prodding and poking me all the time. It gets to be a lot to handle mentally. So do anything to keep him positive and give him things to think about other than treatment and what's happening.

[Spark82]

I was also in hospital with pancreatitis, sepsis & covid all at the same time.

I was in a coma for 54 days. When I woke up I initially hadn't got a clue where I was. I was in pain when being washed.

When you have a trachy in you talk but no sound comes out so that can be very frustrating.

After around a week they tried me with a "speaking valve" this was amazing as not only could the staff hear me but I could hear myself.

You having to go the process called trachy weaning. (Slowly reducing the support)

I was then transferred to a Neurological ward where I had intensive physio as my muscles was just not strong.

After 18 months I am now walking but still unstable. I have pain in my feet and hands - that is the Neuropathy.

[lol123458p]

Thanks for your stories. It helps. He made progress today they started physio they moved him from the bed to chair and said he did well with it. They said he would still be on the vent for a few weeks but is making progress.

[LeopardGecko]

I think everyone has already answered your questions but just wanted to say my husband was admitted to hospital with acute necrotising pancreatitis and quickly put into an induced coma and ventilated. He was in a coma for almost 3 weeks then they did his tracheostomy. He woke up quite quickly but remained on the ventilator for just over 2 more months (gradually being weaned). He did get sepsis and several other infections which possibly slowed his progress. Everyone is different though and there is no set time scale for these things.

[lol123458p in reply to LeopardGecko]

Was he using the ventilator a lot? Do you remeber how much. For my boyfriend he’s on 35% with a PEEP of 12. They said they don’t know when he would come off as hes still weak. He was rlly weak today he skipped on physio and didn’t even wanna watch tv.

[LeopardGecko in reply to lol123458p]

Sorry for the delay. How is he doing now?I never looked at the figures. Every day was different and sometimes he relied on the ventilator more than others. My husband skipped physio sometimes and was too tired to do anything. It is exhausting recovering from serious illness 😔