When I arrived at Cathy's ICU room this morning, the ventilator assistance was already reduced to 10. Cathy was still fighting to quiet herself, but was definitely winning the battle. Apparently, the RT did not wait until 5 to make the change.
Around 7:30, the RT for the day shift came in and made a few simultaneous adjustments. First, she reduced the pressure assistance to 8. Then immediately following, without giving Cathy time to adjust, she deflated the 'cuff' which seals the ventilator tube within Cathy's larynx. The cuff is a balloon-like device at the base of the ventilator tube that, when inflated, forces all air in and out of Cathy's lungs to pass through the vent tube. This was done to check to see if they could get air to flow around the outside of the tube. This checks for swelling of the larynx. No air was detected flowing around the outside of the tube. After approximately 10 minutes, the cuff was re inflated. By this time Cathy was struggling hard, her blood pressure was holding above 200 (I saw it over 260 over 110 a couple times). Cathy was given a sedative and a medication to reduce this pressure. It took Cathy almost 45 agonizing minutes to recover.
The doctors are going to perform a bronkoscopy (look down her throat with a viewing scope) to see if there is significant swelling to worry about or if Cathy just has a small larynx. The doctors also stated that "Cathy will be extibated this weekend". How about that!! It sounds like they are not to worried about the severity of the swelling.
Well, I am here for the day. I will provide additional updates as things progress.
David
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