Mum’s Been in ICU for 3 Months on a Ventilator with Trache. Can She be Weaned Off it at Home?

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MY MUM HAS BEEN IN INTENSIVE CARE FOR THREE MONTHS. SHE’S ON A VENTILATOR WITH A TRACHEOSTOMY AFTER A CARDIAC ARREST. CAN SHE GO HOME AND BE WEANED OFF THE VENTILATOR AT HOME INSTEAD OF IN INTENSIVE CARE?

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In today’s question I want to answer a question from Charlie and Charlie asks

My mum has been in intensive care for three months. She’s on a ventilator with a tracheostomy after a cardiac arrest. Can she go home and be weaned off the ventilator at home instead of in intensive care?

So Charlie writes

Hi Patrik,

my mother is in intensive care and she has been in intensive care for the last three months.

The doctors are saying she’s doing okay, but the progress is very slow. And they’re saying that she might be in intensive care for the next three months or even for longer until she can get weaned off the ventilator.

So we are wondering whether she can go home on a ventilator.

Now, my mother had a cardiac arrest.

She now has atrial fibrillation (AF) since she had the cardiac arrest.

Initially she went to hospital for a broken hip and then overnight she actually had a cardiac arrest and she was resuscitated. And she came back after about eight minutes of cardiac compressions and resuscitation. Thankfully the brain MRI came back with no damage and she has been initially in a coma for about 10 days.

And when she woke up, they did a tracheostomy and now she’s having problems in weaning off the ventilator, probably also because of pain issues, because initially she had some fractured ribs after the CPR and she’s now very weak and she’s probably traumatized by all the events in the last few weeks and months.

So really my question is can we wean her at home with intensive care at home instead of leaving her in intensive care for the next few months, which is pretty much what the ICU is suggesting.

On the other hand, ICU has been suggesting that another way to deal with this situation is to “let her go and let her die and let nature take its course.”

Now, given that my mother is only 60 years of age, we want her to live and she wants to live. We also think that our mother feels very lonely and that again, she’s traumatised by being in ICU for so long and waking up now and slowly realizing of what is happening.

So the question really is how quickly can we take her home and wean her at home on the ventilator.

Thank you,

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

thanks for this question really appreciated.

Look, Charlie, here is the short version.

After three months in ICU and your mother being more stable and the only thing keeping her in ICU is the ventilation weaning.

Yes, she can definitely go home with our service INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and we can continue weaning her off the ventilator at home.

It’s really good to hear that there is no brain damage after the cardiac arrest and that is very important.

You know, we can continue monitoring the atrial fibrillation at home. I’m pretty sure that the cardiologist has a plan mapped out in terms of how to treat the atrial fibrillation. And we can do that at home. That’s certainly not a reason to stay in ICU for the next few months and wean her off ventilation in ICU.

So what needs to happen in order for your mother to go home is, we need to set her up at home with the right equipment and the right staff.

We need to set you guys up with a 24 hour intensive home care nursing roster. So we will send you the intensive care nurses in the home 24 hours a day, and then we can continue weaning your Mother from home...

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