Home Care for Trach - Info?

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Yes, Marjorie. Joel's one amazing person! I won't know what to do without his help! :D

Joel, I am equally amazed at your creativity! Pls let your RT know I would like a copy of that book once it is done. :) My mum panics when I loosen the trache holder more than I usually do, so...don't think she will let me do what you do. LOL. Might try the tipping method when my RN friend is around. :) Thank you so much!

My mum's home and feeling much better. Thank God! But it had been raining a lot and the drop in temp is causing her a lot of secretions. Hopefully when the monsoon season is over, the secretions will decrease accordingly.

Her progression seemed pretty fast. I noticed she is having more difficulties pulling herself up to a sitting position when she lies at an incline now and is not as steady when she stands. I do not have much strength to get her up alone, so I have to use my hands to hold her front/back and push her up using my body weight. My sister saw what I did and was horrified, thinking I was going to push her off the bed. LOL. At least my mum is still in good spirits.

Anyway, anyone has any suggestions on aids to help her get to a sitting position from an incline?
 
You guys are making me blush LoL.

Do you have an institution like the ALS Society where you are? Or, are you totally on you own?

There are portable lifts, adjustable beds, etc. that can really help. Do you have access to anything like this?
 
Now that you reminded me. I can simply adjust the hospital bed to the highest incline (provided my mum gave me sufficient time before wanting to slip off the bed) and then turn her with the help of the pillow on her back, to help her get off.

So many times the things are there for me to use, but I simply forget about them. LOL. I must be having short term memory. Thank you so much again for reminding me, Joel! I will most likely need more of those next time. :)

PS: I'm on my own. Tried to contact the Muscular Dystrophy Association in SG, but there are so far no replies about support for PALS.
 
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Do you have a Red Cross office anywhere? They also can help with equipment and stuff.
 
Apparently, Red Cross in SG do not deal with this and if I am lucky, I might be able to find some secondhand living aids at their thrift store. Other than that, not much help can be provided in terms of equipments and other related things. I will see if there are other associations that can help locally.

Btw, would having pets (specifically, I have 3 hamsters) at home worsen my mum's condition, given that she has a trache?
 
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They will not cause any trouble unless she was alergic to them before. I sure wish there was something more I could do!
 
Hi -

Thought I'd chime in. We have never had the trach come out at home, although it did happen once in the hospital - very big emergency because it was rather new.

As far as pets go, we have 2 dogs and a cat. Both dogs curl up next to Pat all day. Being terrier mixes, they shed very little. The hospital and the vent company warned us against them. We have had no problems whatsoever - Pat has had no infections since coming home from the hospital, 9 months now.

Our experience is that the medical people scare the bejezuz out of you, try to talk you out of a trach, tell you how complicated it is, etc. Our journey has not been as easy as Joel's because Pat came home horribly debilitated after 60 days in ICU and no physical therapy. But the actual trach and vent are easily managed.

Good luck - Beth
 
Thanks, Joel. You had already helped me a lot with your answers and suggestions. :)

Btw, how high should the pressure of the suction pump be? I was told it should not be more than 100 mmHg. However, because my mum's secretions are too thick, it is not possible to do suction at that pressure. Only at about 150 to 200 mmHg can we remove the secretions, but I do worry about trauma to her trachea at this pressure range. We had given her nebuliser to "loosen" the secretions already, so I am at a loss.

Thank you for dropping a note, Beth. How is Pat doing thus far? Did you manage to get a physiotherapist?

Regarding physio, I was given a list of pictures and instructions and told to do those exercises with my mum. Whenever my mum is moved from one place to another, her secretions increase tremendously, so the hospital advised us to conduct physio for her at home ourselves instead of visiting their physio center.
 
I don't think the suction pressure is too high, like you said it has to be to get the thick secretions out.
Just keep spinning the catheter so it does not latch onto the side of her trachea.

Have you been given saline vials that you can tear off the top and squirt it down her tube, wait 3 breaths and then suction? This really loosens up the secretions so you can suction them up easily.

Take care!
 
Urgent

My helper just called me at work to say that she cannot put my mum's inner cannula back after removing it to clean and when she try to put in back, my mum said it hurts.

She said she can see some blood, but no plug or anything.

What should I do?
 
WOW, I am not sure how to respond. There should not be any pain putting the inner cannula back in and it should go in easily!

See some blood where? Did she say?

She could leave it out and you could deal with it after work. I sometimes leave mine out all day.
 
My mum use the Shiley Cuffless Fenestrated Trach, so my helper saw some blood at the hole of the outer cannula.

Her trach was just changed yesterday, so I don't think it can be due to adhering tissues.
 
I would say it is just some blood around the stoma and nothing to worry about.
Likely caused by the tube change yesterday.

I am somewhat concerned about the pain from trying to put the inner cannula in. Maybe she is being a bit rough and not holding the outer tube tight enough while trying to lock in the inner cannula?
 
My mum told her there is pain when she tries to slot the inner cannula in. She did not manage to get it in to try to lock it. I asked if my mum can still breath, she said yes so there doesn't seemed to be a plug somewhere.
 
I'm at a loss of what to recommend. If you are comfortable waiting until after work when you can see for yourself then wait. Otherwise, maybe she should be taken to see a doctor.
 
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