Update on vest for my mother

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I thought I would give an update on the vest that my mother got a last week.

Her doctor ordered a Hill-Rom The Vest. I guess he was used to that

company. So far, the company has been great. Very nice and helpful on

the phone. The vest was shipped quickly. The respiratory therapist

they hired to help set things up was also very nice and helpful. The

Vest itself seems like a quality product.

( BTW, before the doctor order The Vest, I also talked to the folks

at ElectroMed. They were also very nice and helpful. )

I guess it is too early to tell but so far the vest hasn't had too

much of an effect, if any. My mother is having trouble running it at

10 cycles per second. She starts at 8 and works her way up. She has

trouble breathing during the treatments, at least the first few

minutes. She was told to use the nebulizer ( albuterol ) while using

the vest but she can't do that at all. So now she does the nebulizer

first and then the vest. Even that is tough since she says that she

has a hard time breathing after doing the nebulizer.

Anyone else have these kinds of issues? Will it get easier with time?

Also, right now she just does 10 minutes of the vest. ( Eventually

20 ) No scheduled breaks for trying to get the stuff up and out. I

read elsewhere that people do that. I wish her doc would schedule a

respiratory therapist to come out and spend some time with her while

she does her treatments!

BTW, here is a nice video ( split into two parts ) about airway

clearance techniques. It's for CF patients but I assume most or all

of it applies to bronchiectasis patients too. I learned some things.

Thanks in advance.

--

Herb Schilling