There You Are Using Your Lungs Like Suckers
Q. You mentioned some side effects of MD are problems with sitting and eating. Is there anything else?
Bedside Ventilator
Vent HeaterA. I use a ventilator 24/7 because I can’t breathe by myself. My bedside ventilator pumps the air through the tubes into my lungs via a trache tube. I don’t really know what all those numbers mean. The only difference between the bedside vent and the wheelchair vent is the heater.
It keeps the air warm and moist. Usually, when you breathe, your nose does this naturally. But since I don’t breathe through my nose, the heater does it. Without it, the air is cold and dry. It’s a big part of why I can’t stay in my chair too long.
Ambu BagThe last picture is the Ambu Bag. I take it with me wherever I go. It’s basically a manual ventilator. Should the vent decide it wants to stop working, you plug it in to the thrache and squeeze. I also use it for showers and if I get a mucus plug and the vent isn’t generating enough pressure to pump the air past the plug into my lungs. You can generate more pressure with the bag just by squeezing harder. The plugs happens happen often. The way it was explained to me was that the trache is a foreign object, so the body produces mucus to try and expel the object. Stupid body, you’d think it would have learned by now.
And yes, I am aware that the extension looks like a big floppy dick. And that it plugs into my throat. Shut up.
