halfin
Senior member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2009
- Messages
- 540
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 08/2009
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- Santa Barbara
Had a pretty bad scare this morning. I have a trache and use a ventilator at night for sleep apnea, but I don't absolutely need it. I can't move much and I have an alarm button I can push to call for help. Recently we've moved the alarm button to the pillow beside my head, because my neck muscles still work pretty well.
This morning, Fran got up about 7 as usual, and she rolled me on my side because I've been getting a sore on my butt. She had to move the alarm but we made sure I could still reach it with my head.
The alarm fell off just a couple of minutes after she left. I had no way to call for help, and Fran would not be back until 8 to give me some medicine. I was worried but okay. I stayed calm and even dozed a little. But then I started to cough. Fran had to flatten the bed to turn me, and I think because of my position I had a lot of secretions. They built up in the vent tube and I started having trouble breathing. At times it felt like the vent was completely blocked, then I would gasp and get some air. I needed suction but had no way to call.
Finally I started to panic, and that was when things got really bad. I began to thrash around, trying to turn my body and reach the alarm. I tried to reach the vent tube and pull it off. Nothing worked. All this movement made me breathe harder. I couldn't get air, I was gasping for breath but there wasn't enough.
I couldn't control my panic even though I knew it was making things worse. But finally I coughed off the ventilator tube, blowing it off my trache. (I have a really strong cough.) Instantly I felt better. I could breathe. I calmed down and was pretty comfortable, but shaken.
Fran came in about 10 minutes early, which was nice although the crisis had passed. It was another hour, after my morning cleanup, before I got my Dynavox set up and was able to tell Fran what had happened. She felt bad and kind of blamed herself. But really it was just a new situation we hadn't faced before.
We've learned from this, so hopefully our experience will serve as a warning to others.
This morning, Fran got up about 7 as usual, and she rolled me on my side because I've been getting a sore on my butt. She had to move the alarm but we made sure I could still reach it with my head.
The alarm fell off just a couple of minutes after she left. I had no way to call for help, and Fran would not be back until 8 to give me some medicine. I was worried but okay. I stayed calm and even dozed a little. But then I started to cough. Fran had to flatten the bed to turn me, and I think because of my position I had a lot of secretions. They built up in the vent tube and I started having trouble breathing. At times it felt like the vent was completely blocked, then I would gasp and get some air. I needed suction but had no way to call.
Finally I started to panic, and that was when things got really bad. I began to thrash around, trying to turn my body and reach the alarm. I tried to reach the vent tube and pull it off. Nothing worked. All this movement made me breathe harder. I couldn't get air, I was gasping for breath but there wasn't enough.
I couldn't control my panic even though I knew it was making things worse. But finally I coughed off the ventilator tube, blowing it off my trache. (I have a really strong cough.) Instantly I felt better. I could breathe. I calmed down and was pretty comfortable, but shaken.
Fran came in about 10 minutes early, which was nice although the crisis had passed. It was another hour, after my morning cleanup, before I got my Dynavox set up and was able to tell Fran what had happened. She felt bad and kind of blamed herself. But really it was just a new situation we hadn't faced before.
We've learned from this, so hopefully our experience will serve as a warning to others.