My Husband’s been in ICU in Sydney for 6 Weeks. He's got Tracheostomy& is Ventilated.Can He Go Home?

https://intensivecareathome.com/my-husband-has-been-in-intensive-care-in-sydney-for-six-weeks-hes-got-a-tracheostomy-and-is-ventilated-can-he-go-home/

My Husband has been in Intensive Care in Sydney for Six Weeks. He's got a Tracheostomy and is Ventilated. Can He Go Home?

Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here

http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/

Call directly 24/7
+1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada
+44 118 324 3018 UK
+6141 094 2230 Australia

Email support@intensivecarehotline.com

Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy
1:1 phone counselling
http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/

Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care
https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/

Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/
https://intensivecareathome.com

And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU.

https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ICUhotline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline

#icu
#intensivecare
#criticalcare

In today’s blog. I want to answer a question from one of our readers and the question today is

My Husband has been in Intensive Care in Sydney for Six Weeks. He’s got a Tracheostomy and is Ventilated. Can He Go Home?

So I want to read out Katie’s question and Katie writes,

Hi Patrik,

I am gathering information for my 60-year old husband who has been in intensive care for six weeks now with a negative cycle that continues and doctors and nurses who are very nice, are unable to get to the bottom of things or get the right dosages of medications to keep him calm and also get him off the ventilator.

He is currently in ICU in Sydney. He initially was admitted with pneumonia. He’s got a history of COPD and he’s now got a cycle going on with low blood pressure and poor kidney perfusion. He’s not only on the ventilator with a tracheostomy, he’s also on kidney dialysis. It’s complicated by atrial fibrillation and by a high heart rate.

We are looking to bring him home as soon as possible, but we need a knowledgeable nursing team to help us getting him home and we also need funding to get him home. We are in Sydney and new South Wales, Australia. Are there services available near us?

Thank you.

From Katie

Hi Katie,

Thank you so much for sending your question in. To answer your question, in short, yes, we are in Sydney and we can help you in Sydney setting up a knowledgeable nursing team, intensive care nursing team to get your husband home on a ventilator with a tracheostomy.

I guess what needs to happen next from what you’re sharing is they need to get the atrial fibrillation under control. I don’t know whether he’s getting any Amiodarone, whether he’s getting any digoxin, especially since its fast AF from what you are sharing or have they tried a cardioversion to get him back into a sinus rhythm.

Other than that, it sounds like with the low blood pressure, your husband might be on inotropes or vasopressors, and before he can come home, ideally he should be off the inotropes and vasopressors. It would make things easier to get him home if he was more stable.

It would probably also help if he came off the kidney dialysis because often what happens when patients are on dialysis in intensive care, their blood pressure goes down and patients end up on inotropes and vasopressors.

The combination of atrial fibrillation and the kidney dialysis is often a recipe for getting patients on inotropes and vasopressors. So it would be critical for your husband to get the atrial fibrillation under control and then, he might have a higher chance getting off the inotropes and vasopressors, sustain a physiological blood pressure and perfuse his kidneys and get off the dialysis.

Then it would be so much easier to get him home if he was “only ventilated with a tracheostomy”, that in and of itself is a big enough challenge. But then again, with our team and with our expertise, we can get your husband home.

And also with the funding, you should definitely contact the NDIS, the national disability insurance scheme. They fund now home care for nursing and I can’t see why your husband wouldn’t qualify for it, with what you have shared...

Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/my-husband-has-been-in-intensive-care-in-sydney-for-six-weeks-hes-got-a-tracheostomy-and-is-ventilated-can-he-go-home/