pittsburghgal
Senior member
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2016
- Messages
- 569
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 11/2011
- Country
- US
- State
- PA
- City
- Pittsburgh
My PALS has had a trach since last July. He had a very long hospitalization and the outer portion of the trach was changed in the hospital prior to discharge in Sept. Can someone tell me when this needs to be changed? I change the inner cannula every day and do routine daily trach care as I was taught at the hospital. We saw the surgeon who did the procedure (and PEG) for a follow up visit in Nov. and she said once a year. We saw the pulmonologist 2 weeks ago and I asked him the same question. He didn't answer and said "you need to follow up with an ENT physician". I am concerned about this because there is a mild odor coming from the trach that both my husband and I are aware of. There are no secretions and he feels well. The area around the trach looks fine. My husband told the pulmonologist at his visit 2 weeks ago but he didn't even look at it and just repeated the advice that we should follow up with ENT.
Sharon
Sharon