Recent content by pamwagg

Hi Pat, I don't know, of course, but my friend Joe is on a vent right now and they are trying to wean him OFF it during the day, afraid he will get too used to it early and not be able to breathe without it before he truly needs it. I wonder if using the bipap early might not be like that: if...

Hi Everyone and thanks for your comments and suggestions. I asked the PA to come talk with Joe and me about how he is doing, as Joe is as concerned as I am and I think he doesn't know if he is going to get better or not either. The PA basically said that so far there has not been any...

Dear Everyone I have been so busy, looking after my second best friend, who is elderly and very frail, as well as visiting Joe, I have not been able to come back here for a couple of weeks. Joe has been in the ICU now for a month, after getting aspiration pneumonia on July 4 (he'd had it at...

Hi Lillie, Joe has a cough assist machine, which he did not use very often. I am not sure why, except that he did not do a lot of the things that were recommended for his self-care, partly due to the lack of motivation that comes with the schizophrenia that afflicts both of us, partly because...

Hi Lillie, Joe developed aspiration pneumonia, probably due to inhaling his own saliva or respiratory secretions, which could not be coughed up. He has been coughing drinking thin liquids for months now, but when he had a swallowing study the first time 9 months ago, he said the barium...

Hi Folks, Joe rallied after several days of high fevers and semi consciousness. But he was put on ventilator and just today had a tracheostomy. They do hope to wean him from the vent, at least partially and temporarily. For as many months as he can tolerate it. So we have some hope that he will...

Hello again, everyone. I "left" abruptly in the middle of a discussion of what to do about my friend Joe's mucus problem. Everyone's advice was so helpful and I printed it out and gave him the sheets to read. But I have schizophrenia and had a relapse under the stress of it all. Luckily, other...

You know, quadbliss, his room is so dark, I never looked at the BiPap machine to see what it said when the alarm rang. I simply woke Joe up to take a breath if it kept ringing. I didn't know the machine would say anything at all! Next time I am down there, I will take a look. As for drinking...

Can't suction mucus Sorry, folks, but there is another problem now, which I tried to find answers to by a search but didn'[t easily come up with anything. Joe has a big problem with thick secretions and mucus stuck in the back of his throat that he can't cough up well. I mean, he does cough it...

Joe had a better night last night, thank God. I stayed up with him until I was sure that the machine alarm was not going to ring and ring and not turn off. But it seemed to work right this time; it would turn on, ring about three cycles then go off when Joe eventually took a breath. I was even...

I called the RT and he came out to change the settings and check the mask and bipap. All were adjusted and set correctly...But just last night the problem continued on and off throughout the night. Once in a while, Joe would sleep peacefully for a half hour or so before the alarm started up...

My friend Joe wants a vent; he wants to live. I know that. The trouble is that he cannot speak or eat any longer, though he uses a feeding tube and a laptop speaking device and is otherwise still ambulatory. However, I have gone into his apartment to add Jevity to his tube-feeding apparatus at...

Hi, Pearl and everyone, I know how to do the Heimlich but I am not big enough to get my arms around Joe, that's that problem. As for the other, I understand that Joe is making choices, but he does NOT want to die. Not inadvertently, not yet, not unnecessarily. In fact, he says he thinks he...

My best friend Joe has ALS and my friend Karen and I are the only ones who can care for him. He has a feeding tube but doesn't want to use it till it is absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, he keeps making "mistakes" (his word) in what he chooses to eat or the care with which he eats it and starts...

Hi Al, Can this be true even if his O2 is 95% during the waking hours? That's what it was when it was taken at the pulmonologist's office. I don't understand how his FVC can be so low and his O2 so high...What is the difference? And which one matters more? I will try to get him to use the bipap...