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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the lives of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can have PEACE OF MIND, real power, real control and so that you can influence decision making fast, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in Intensive Care!
This is another episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED” and in last week’s episode I wrote about
“HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO COME OFF A VENTILATOR/ RESPIRATOR IN INTENSIVE CARE?”
Check it out here.
In this week’s episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED”, one of our dear readers from Perth, Australia asks the following question:
“MY MOTHER WANTS TO GO HOME ON A BIPAP MACHINE FROM INTENSIVE CARE, CAN SHE SURVIVE?”
Dear Patrik,
This is Louise from Perth, Australia
I need your feedback and help regarding this and I hope to receive your answer as soon as possible.
My mother aged 75 yrs has been admitted to the ICU because of respiratory failure. It’s been a week that she has been there with the help of the BiPAP machine. She is completely dependent on the BIPAP machine. But she is conscious and is recognising people well enough, but she’s struggling to cope with the situation and I’m not sure whether she’ll survive. She is suffering from long standing diabetes and hypertension too.
It’s been just a few hours that our family decided to get her discharged from the hospital and provide the entire equipment at home ourself. We are sick of the hospital system and we want her at home with dignity and privacy. She has now been treated from home by our family with the entire life supporting system.
The doctors have also diagnosed changes in the renal system too.
I would like to know that for how long can my mother survive on that machine in this condition. I hope to receive your reply at your earliest convenience.
Regards
Louise
Dear Louise,
thank you for your email and thank you for your question!
I’m sorry to hear what you are going through with your mother, however I can see some good things coming out of the situation as well.
I can also only commend you for taking your mother home to provide her with privacy and dignity something that can often not be achieved in Intensive Care!
To answer your questions, if your mother is in respiratory failure and BIPAP dependent and wants to go home, you may have to think about the following questions and I’m sure that you, your family and your mother may have already thought about some of those questions.
- Is your mother going home and expects to improve her situation?
- Is your mother going home, because she doesn’t want to stay in Intensive Care and she wants comfort at home?
- If the latter is the case, I can only commend you for your decision, because a lot is possible at home and just by taking your mother out of Intensive Care to the comfort of her own home she will probably get a moral boost, even though she may be sick and weak at the moment.
To put things in perspective for you and for your family, the reality is that some people live at home, fully ventilated and fully ventilator dependent with Tracheostomy. They generally do so with the help of specialized Intensive Home Care nursing services such as INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME (www.intensivecareathome.com.au) in Australia. Other countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland also have a longstanding history of Intensive Home Care services for ventilator dependent Adults& Children with Tracheostomy as a genuine alternative to Intensive Care.
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You didn’t mention a Tracheostomy, so I assume that your grandmother is on a BIPAP machine ventilator dependent with a face mask. Generally speaking and in theory, people can “live” on a BIPAP machine indefinitely, however with the other medical issues that you’ve mentioned such as the respiratory failure, the hypertension, diabetes and the kidney issues you and your family might need professional help in order to prolong the life of your mother if that’s what you want.
For more information about how long people can live on a BIPAP machine check out this article here(click on the link) “How long is a Patient kept on a BIPAP machine in Intensive Care?”
In an Intensive Care environment, your mother would have close monitoring of her hypertension, of her diabetes and her kidney issues. In order for your mother to improve at home, the same would apply. Having said that as I have hinted before, I am personally a big believer in home care and there is no reason why your mother can’t have those observations at home as well.
My biggest concern with home BIPAP and kidney issues or kidney failure is that if the kidneys don’t work properly, your mother might get fluid overloaded as the diminished Urine output might accumulate fluids in the lungs and make your mother even more dependent on the BIPAP. Therefore, depending on the severity of the kidney issues you might have to keep a close eye on fluid intake and urine output, in order to not have your mother fluid overloaded.
The biggest question however for you, for your Family and for your mother is what do you want to achieve? Are you seeking comfort measures in your own home or are you seeking to improve your mother’s situation and have her off the ventilator completely?
If you could shed more light on your situation, I can certainly point you in the right direction. Part of our services here in Australia is to provide INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME (www.intensivecareathome.com.au) services, so I can give you expert advice if you can be more specific about your situation.
Thank you& Kind Regards
Sincerely, your friend
Patrik Hutzel
How can You leverage your level of power, influence and control whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care?
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In your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT you’ll learn how to speak the “secret” Intensive Care language so that the doctors and the nurses know straight away that you are an insider and that you know and understand what’s really happening in Intensive Care!
In your FREE report you’ll also discover
- How to ask the doctors and the nurses the right questions
- Discover the many competing interests in Intensive Care and how your critically ill loved one’s treatment may depend on those competing interests
- How to eliminate fear, frustration, stress, struggle and vulnerability even if your loved one is dying
- 5 “killer” tips& strategies helping you to get on the right path to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence in your situation
- You’ll get real world examples that you can easily adapt to your and your critically ill loved one’s situation
- How to stop being intimidated by the Intensive Care team and how you will be seen as equals
- You’ll get crucial ‘behind the scenes’ insight so that you know and understand what is really happening in Intensive Care
- How you need to manage doctors and nurses in Intensive Care(it’s not what you think)
Thank you for tuning into this week’s episode of “your questions answered” and I’ll see you again in another update next week!
Make sure you also check out our “blog” section for more tips and strategies or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions!
Also check out our Products section where you get more Ebooks, Videos and Audio recordings and where you can also get 1:1 consulting!
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and I’ll see you again next week with another update!
Sincerely, your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
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