BarryG
Extremely helpful member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 3,000
- Diagnosis
- 02/2008
- Country
- CA
- State
- Alberta
- City
- Hinton
Well, I had a really not so much fun experience last night, I was sitting in my chair watching tv when I felt the need to get rid of some of what I call "throat snot", that thick, sticky, gooey saliva that defies all remedies and tools.
So off I go the the bathroom sink and try to wash it out with water and drag it out with my toothbrush. No luck, still there. Next to the suction machine, my ultimate weapon of goo extraction. So I am washing and suctioning and the suction wand latches onto a large blob and I start to gag. And with gagging comes puking and the whole thing escalates from being an uncomfortable annoyance to a serious problem where I am vomiting and cant get a breath. There I am barfing and struggling for a breath and making all kinds of horrible whooping noises and Beth comes running in but there isn't much that she can do except catch me if I fall over. I now know what they mean when they talk about aspirating vomit, not that I did but it was very close.
After that I went to bed propped up and slept well and I feel good this morning but it was a really scary episode that I hope I never have to go through again.
One thing that I have learned from it is that I need to teach Beth to use the suction machine. Also I am going enquire about a cough assist machine, maybe that might help if it ever happens again. Any other suggestions would be appreciated cause like CJ says "bulbar ALS sucks".
So off I go the the bathroom sink and try to wash it out with water and drag it out with my toothbrush. No luck, still there. Next to the suction machine, my ultimate weapon of goo extraction. So I am washing and suctioning and the suction wand latches onto a large blob and I start to gag. And with gagging comes puking and the whole thing escalates from being an uncomfortable annoyance to a serious problem where I am vomiting and cant get a breath. There I am barfing and struggling for a breath and making all kinds of horrible whooping noises and Beth comes running in but there isn't much that she can do except catch me if I fall over. I now know what they mean when they talk about aspirating vomit, not that I did but it was very close.
After that I went to bed propped up and slept well and I feel good this morning but it was a really scary episode that I hope I never have to go through again.
One thing that I have learned from it is that I need to teach Beth to use the suction machine. Also I am going enquire about a cough assist machine, maybe that might help if it ever happens again. Any other suggestions would be appreciated cause like CJ says "bulbar ALS sucks".