Guest guest Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 -Hi has had recurrent aspiration pneumonia. She is NPO and is currently on half TPN, half J tube feeds. Her G tube is to gravity drainage at all times and that has really cut down on the aspiration. Could you do that with Kirk? When she's sick, she sleeps in her wheelchair, which reclines. And, we go by how she looks rather than the sat monitor. Her sats can be around 92 and she can be comfortable, so we don't check routinely. We figure, if she's keeping the O2 on, then she probably needs it. When is sick, we generally call the doctor and the home infusion company comes out to draw labs. Then they deliver IV meds to our house. She has daily nursing so she's monitored pretty closely. We go to the hospital for outpatient x rays if needed. We do IV hydration at home, too. We have standing orders for fluids and all the equipment at home. One of my strong fighting points was to keep out of the hospital unless she's unconscious and unaware that she's there. Even with all these plans, she still goes in quite a bit. But, it's getting better. I'm sorry that you have to start thinking about a new baseline. That's a hard thing to do. I was happy to read that you're hooked up with the palliative team. The name is scary, but it really just represents a change to treating to enhance quality of life rather than going by lab tests and numbers. It is hard to explain to family members, though, that you are not giving up treatment, but just shifting the focus and outcomes. Your family is in my prayers Heidi, 's Mom www.caringbridge.org/ma/heather > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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