I thought “Not again” two nights ago. My new 950 vent started giving me extra breath, not accelerated like the Trilogy had been doing, but enough to keep me awake, only when I was on my right side. Most likely because of the way the tubing hung at the bed’s side. Two skinny tube sensors, which helps the vent adjust to the air leak around my trach. My respiratory therapist said if these sensors are upside-down it would cause the machine to think I needed a breath. There are issues being…

Another unwanted episode of ... "As the Vent Breathes"

I started having a problem last week with my Trilogy 100 vent. My doc (pulmologist) wanted to get to the bottom of it gave me 5mg of Ambien.

My options 1) get used to the Trilogy 2) try an LTV 950– already tried the LTV 800 and was used to it 3) put in cuffed trach (requires minor surgery – this I surely want to avoid). It’s been quite a challenge finding a new vent. The LP10 had been such a reliable machine for years.…

Norco was the respiratory care supplier my nursing agency recommended. A call was made to an RT at Norco by the name of Rebecca and she called back. An appointment was made but being canceled due to inclement weather it was rescheduled a week on 12/1/10. Rebecca came with a Trilogy 100, a compact, blue box for me to try. First she went through some paperwork which involved my medical supplies. Then tubing was hooked up and Rebecca dialed in similar vent settings as my LP10. The sensitivity…

Come to find out it wasn’t the insurance dictating what vent I’d get, but my vent equipment supplier, Lincare. Laura had informed us in October that Lincare getting out of the vent business and so they were not taken on new vent patients, nor were they not purchasing new vents. Thus whatever vents they have around were the only ones to choose from. So they had only the LTV 800 available. Since I wasn’t comfortable with the LTV and mom saw my frustration, along with Laura, it was decided to…