[jryan0606]

Hi, I am new at this site. I am new with the whole process of weaning.

Im asking anyone who can help me (info to get a better understanding for me and my mom)...

My grandmother who is 80, had tripple bypass surgery due to a heart attack. She has been in the TICU for a month, and now she is in Mercy Hospital (PA) on the weaning floor (2 more months later)...

In the TICU they had her on the mask (CPAP i think). And she lasted 19 hours... than she got so tired she was on the vent for 3 days after that.
She can stay on the mask for 5/6 hours, than she gets tired (or she says she gets tired... sometimes the respitory nurses say that all her stats are ok, they dont know why she wants off...)

She has been on the vent most of the time.
They said that they are weaning her, and the other day had they told us that they had to do therosethis (spelt wronG)...which drained fluid from near her lungs (plural effusion i think.)

She said that she can breath a little better, (and i think there going to drain her more.)

As you can see, i am trying very hard to keep track of things. She is the best grandmother anyone could have. And my mom thinks she will never get off the ventilator because she has been on it so long.

Can anyone give me a better understand of these things:

Here is her information on the ventilator screen (as of today):

TOTAL VE: 12.3
TOTAL RATE: 34
%02: 45
PSV: 15
PIP: 21.0 - 22.6
PEAK FLOW: 60
PEEP: 5

And a black dot was going from Exhale to Support.,

I know ill never fully get this. but...are those pretty good Signs. They say she is weaning... is she? is that good? what should i look for For improvements.... up or down?

if anyone can help me. that would be great. its a lot of stress, expecially when you try and know what everyone says (explaning it different)... can you break it down for a dummy !

[mistyz23]

I am just curious, but do you feel uncomfortable speaking to the tech or nurse who is caring for your grandmother?

[jryan0606]

no we do not feel uncomfertable. its just that we get different answers from everyone. today the doctor said she is on FULL SUPPORT, and we went in and the respitory nurse said that she was breathing all on her own with 10 (help breaths).... so

thats why im asking people WHO WANT to answer

[KateRN]

when you are weaning someone from a vent, it takes time. its like, they take trials.

when you say mask, im assuming you mean an aerosol trach mask? -- o2 that rests around her trach?

so she "Rests" on the ventilator and does breathing trials on the trach mask, correct?

about her wanting to placed back on the vent, even if her sats are ok and her vitals look good -- weaning is *hard work*, breathing on the vent is way easier. a lot of time it becomes a psychological thing. i work a lot with people in intensive care become ventilator dependant - esp. lung transplants, and they stay in the icu with us until they are good to go to the floor... -- it takes a lot of encouragement. it is a horrible feeling to feel like you cant breathe, and along with weaning trials comes a lot of that feeling - she most likely has developed some anxiety issues.


things you might want to ask :

how long is she lasting on each trial?
how many trials a day is she doing?
how are her oxygen saturations when shes breathing on her own?
how is her work of breathing when she is breathing on her own?
are they giving her any anti-anxiety medicines to help her wean better?

if she had a plueral effusion, and they drained it - she will most likely be doing a little better with her trials.

other things you need to consider is she is 80 years old -- shes going to take a while to bounce back and is going to have a much harder time recovering than someone else might who is younger and may be in better health. maybe you could sit with her and try to be an encouragement with her breathing trials if it is becoming an issue of her just wanting to get put back on the vent before she physically needs to -- make her push herself a little more.

talk with the staff!! if you think of questions you might have at home, write them down and take them in to the staff. ask for a meeting with the doctor and schedule a time to come in and do that.

hope that helps! (im also from pittsburgh and am familiar with mercy hospital)