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Hjlee

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Joined
Aug 4, 2017
Messages
21
Reason
Loved one DX
Diagnosis
08/2017
Country
US
State
CA
City
San jose
my mom did the trach on last Friday. she was in ICU for 1.5days and transferred to PCU(progressive care unit). after few hours of her surgery, she started to bleed a lot so had to go back to surgery room to control the bleeding and to chech if everything is okay. next day of surgery, she was doing fine. third day, she got panic attack while she was trying pmv. so doctor needed to give her strong anxiety medication. yesterday, she was fine everything was stable. (heart rate/ blood pressure) today, her condtion was good so we tried to pmv and suddenly sacrition came out through her next whole, bubbling, thick, and the color was yellow. they took out pmv and found out her oxygen level is keep going down below 90. her level was over 96 and she didnt need oxygen before she did pvm today. so doctors ordered the chest xray and waiting for the result. any idea why she having this problem so suddenly? she didnt need to suction that much until she tried the pmv.
 
My guess would be that the PMV was not installed in the best way for her, and/or it unmasked an infection. Let us know what the chest X-ray shows and I would think they would also examine the yellow fluid in a lab.

Best,
Laurie
 
I agree with Laurie and will take it a step further, I suspect the pmv was not done correctly. Even if it turns out she has an infection, the fact that the secretions were coming out like that around her trach stoma is abnormal.

In case you're not familiar with the pmv, it opens and allows air in during an inhale and then closes for the exhale to allow/force air over the vocal chords and out through the mouth and nose. What you described makes me wonder if the cuff on the trach tube was lowered , if it wasn't the only escape for the air and secretions would be out the stoma.

The only other thought is if she had a lot of sinus drainage that had been sitting on top of the cuff and if they lowered the cuff without simultaneously suctioning out what was sitting on top it's possible it came out the stoma.

Hope they figure out what's causing that to happen, being able to talk is so important. Kate
 
thank you for the replies. the chest xray came out clear and they are doing chest CT right now. we did suction before pmv try. i dont remeber when it started but sometimes when my mom swallows salavia, i saw 2-3 times of bubbling. hospital said the pmv is not the priority right now but to control the secretions. they plan to discharge my mom on next tues if her ct comes out normal. they said we should come back later for the pvm and swallow test.
 
doctors said secretion coming out stoma can be normal. they found some bacteria but we are waiting for the result if it is normal(?) bacteria or not. she started antibiotics yesterday night and it seems like her needing for suction decreased. they will put her on vent until discharge (next tuesday) but they are not going to try pmv. so i guess she will try pmv and swallow test as outpatient. im and my mom is little frustrated because we thought we could do pvm before we discharged.....
 
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