We had a bit of excitement today. The vent was alarming from about 7am this morning on Helena's shift. It was alarming "High Pressure" and "Low Minimum Volume". Helena had to ambu Peggy and called HCA. Cathy the RN came in and they were still ambu-ing and troubleshooting at 10am when I came in. Kelly was on shift, so she and Cathy called Respiratory. They told us to change the circuit, which we did. Then Cathy suctioned a few times and a lot of mucous came out and then she was fine. So we're thinking it was a mucous plug.
However, Peggy has been complaining that it feels like there is something in her trach/throat - as in some kind of blockage. We're not sure what this sensation is - it could be scar tissue, but it is not clear. She is also complaining consistently about the cuff and complaining of "leakage". As we've discussed, however, she is at the MAX as far as air that can be put in, so we just need to monitor all of this. If Peggy continues to consistently compain about the sensation in her throat and/or the cuff, we will need to figure out our next step. Please REPORT any complaints from Peggy surrounding this issue so we can monitor it.
Peggy also has a bit of skin breakdown on her bottom. Cathy put 2 Duoderm patches on them and asked us to just leave the patches alone.
A few more things - I wanted to say a big Thank You to Ann Weers who clips the cats' nails when she comes on Tuesdays. What a great help that is - thank you, Ann!
Also, thank you so much to all of you who have been helping us get shifts covered this week - you guys are so awesome! We so appreciate everyone's understanding and willingness to jump in.
One last note - Eric, Indy, Sawyer, and I are all feeling healthy and great again (see photo above!)
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