Need an Advise on Trach Vent

[Willmie]

Hi,

Greetin from Malaysia.
I am new in the ALS forum.Firstly,I desperately need an advise on Trach Vent.
My dad suffers severel stroke past 5 months and bed ridden and a home care at the moment.
He is in constant used of trach vent.Suction is done hourly basis.

1. Is there any thing such as a permanent tranch vest made of stainless steel which is washable?
We are using a disposable trach vent at the moment.And it is expensive approx.$250US for a box of 50.
Thus, we do not know the depenable of the trach vent usageand assumed it will be a long terms usage.

2.Is there such a thing of reuseable trach vent or recycleable trach vent in the market?

3.If anyone could advised me on how to keep the useage of trach vent to the minimum?

Thank you.Your advise is highly appreciated

 

[Al]

Hey guys there must surely be someone with vent experience to help this person. Richard you are up on a lot of technical matters and LaDave you are well read. Do you or any others have any advice for Willmie? I had a site a while back but it moved with no forwarding address.

 

[dana]

Hi Willmie,
My dad is on a vent that is attached to a trach. His has a portable vent which is really nice because he can still go around places. (The only places he has gone so far is to the doctor and out in the back yard, but we are planning on taking him to the horse races next month!) I will try to answer some of your questions, but I am not sure that I can.

As far as suctioning goes, this is something that just comes along with a trach. My dad needs it every few hours or so. He usually needs it if he starts coughing hard, we then suction him, and it usually helps him out a lot. Right now, where we live, there is a lot of pollen out and his allergies have flaired up. We have to suction him more due to his allergies.

You said that you are using disposable trach vents. What do you mean by that? I know that with my dad's vent, it is not disposable. It is a very expensive machine that can either run off of electricity and/or battery. We change the circuits (all the tubes and hoses) on it once a week, but do not change anything else on the vent. The settings (the numbers that direct the machine on how many breaths my dad needs to take) do not change uless with a doctors order. With the trach, we change the bandages and inner cannula once a day. The actual trach gets changes once per month. There are different types of trachs though. Some trachs only need to be changed once every 6 months and others need to be changed once per month. It all depends on the kind your dad has.

As far as keeping the trach and vent to a minimum, that all depends on how much your dad needs the vent to breathe. If he needs the vent to breathe 24 hours a day (like my dad), then you are not going to ever turn it off. The only time my dad is not on the vent is when we are changing the inner cannula in the trach which takes about 10-15 seconds. My dad can still breathe on his own (he initiates many of the breaths on the vent), but his breaths are really shallow and his CO2 levels sky rocket if he is ever off the vent. He also feels like he cannot breathe well without it, and gets a little panicked. You would need to talk to your dad's doctor about how often your dad needs to be on the vent. Is it just during the day, at night, a few hours on/a few hours off, etc. Your dad's doc would know how to keep the vent to a minimum. If your dad is not on the vent, you can get a plug for the trach and your dad can then talk. You might already know all of this, and if you do, sorry for the repeat of information.

I hope this answers your questions. I'm not too sure that it did, but I tried! Hang in there, I know it is tough.
Dana

 

[ekoozmin]

This site may help (International Ventilator Users Network).

http://www.post-polio.org/ivun/

They have a forum, too. Good luck!

Liz

 

[Willmie]

Thanks Guys

Hi,

Greeting from Malaysia.Thanks for the king advise on the trach vent.
I will keep posting from time to time.

Take care.

Peace & Love

Willmie

 

[Willmie]

Dear Dana,

Thank you for the useful information.I am new to this forum.Beg your pardon for any mispell and deep regrateable if the explaination is not to clear.This is partially due to my written English which is not my natural language.Some how I am able to understand the content.

Sorry to here about your dad.How he is able to stand tall and strong the mishap and enjoyed the race course soon.
Yes,the tranch vest.The suction machine is in constant used.His suction is done every hour of so.Especially after he has a bad cough.This H2o is under constant supervision his children.
I notice that you change the bandage.ok the inner circular is kept clean when it full.We jes throw the tranch away after use.I assume the bagage could be change.How did you do that?Is cotton wool ok if it been used?.Yes,the tubing will be change weekly.So does the actual suction machine.I was thinks of more toward rolling the badage compactly so that it could be fitted in the actual casing.

Is there any thing as a permament tranch vest?
Some thing which is made of stainless steel?Reuse it after sterilisation process.Thus if there is such a product the actual vest need ed is only minimal coz 3 would be ample coz the dirty one would be clean and change to the clean strilised one.

I did check up a few site non available to their knowledged.

Well,thank you again dear.May your dad remain calm and happy with all the love one next to him all the time.Patience will achieve everything and anything.Time is the essence.
As far as my dad is concerned he is still bed ridden.but his Physio Threphy session does improve his agile to movement.His musle is getting a good respond.We a a family closely emblace this solitute hour in the family history.
Thanks again love.Till then God Bless.