Daniel, When you are doing the vest therapy try to have them put you in Trendelenburg if your bed is capable of doing that. This position in combination with percussion and expectorants can really facilitate the removal of secretions and thereby allow you to virtually eliminate pneumonia.
Talk to someone about being put on a prophylactic breathing treatment if at all possible. This is also best done in Trendelenburg. Another thing you might want to try if you're having difficulties getting the secretions out. Have your caregiver put you in Trendelenburg and then turn you over on the side. If they can provide very hard percussion to the lower portion of your scapula (shoulder blade) this will definitely help get the secretions out of your system. You can also try quad coughing from the Trendelenburg position. At least all of these things work well with me. Quadius C2 3 quadriplegic 14 years post injury. I was a ventilator dependent for a little more than four months. On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Daniel Espinoza < [email protected]> wrote: > I gone to the hospital with them on your kind of often. Don't need help > breathing but I really don't want a whole in my neck again….. only been a > quad for 3 1/2 years, so I guess I'm kind of a newbie. I fight UTIs and > pneumonia, the UTIs I usually don't need to be hospitalized unless my > doctors worried however the pneumonia is something I go and visit the > hospital for. I really don't like being in the hospital or being suctioned > through the nose, or getting a trumpet in my nose because it's so raw and > bleeding in there. Right now I have tried using a therapeutic vest and the > jury is still out on how well it works. Thanks a lot for this information > may be one day I'll end up giving in and getting one also. Right now we were > turned down for a home suctioning kit, I think with the trach they wouldn't > have a problem with me getting one. I've got some thinking to do I still > really don't want to have the trach but maybe someday. > > > > Daniel Espinoza 26/m/California > > > > Occupation before accident - Network engineer / SR. Network security > engineer What happened: > > I broke my c2,c6,c7 and had to get donor bone at c2, which left me as a > Quadriplegic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadriplegia>. > > I had a > Traumatic_brain_injury<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury>from > blood going to my brain from my spinal cord, but its getting better > with time. > > I am off a ventilator <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventilator> "woohoo" > however only half of my > diaphragm<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_diaphragm>works right now > "due to an asymmetric spinal > cord injury <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_cord_injury>....." > > > > http://www.thespinalcordinjured.net <http://spinalcordinjured.net/> > > http://www.myspace.com/dannylnx > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Monday, July 27, 2009 7:27 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [QUAD-L] 35 year anniversary > > > > I can't believe I made it to my 35 th year anniversary. My parents were > told after each hospitalization I might not make. It seems I was strong > enough to defeat their predictions even though I appeared to be weak at the > time. I was given a tracheostomy after each of my surgeries, but it was > removed before I came home. I had so many long hospitalizations trying to > get off the ventilator and over pneumonia. I was given another tracheostomy > during a pneumonia in 88, which they changed to a trach button before I left > the hospital. It has kept me out of the hospital except for a UTI that got > into my bloodstream causing a coma for 13 days. I had a pneumonia last > year. The trach buttonallows me to get over the bronchitis at home. I > didn't want it, but it turned out to be a good thing for me and not very > noticeable. It is mostly capped, unless I have a lot allergies or > congestion and might need suctioned as needed. It is easy for anyone to > learn how to do. I am quite healthy almost all of the time. I love to > enjoy life going to concerts, which is one of my favorite things to do. > Sorry this has been such a lengthy post. > > > > I have forgotten, who has the longest survivor that we know of. They had > saved that information, but have lost when this computer was reformatted and > my brother thought he had saved. > > > > I haven't got a lot of posts this summer, and I'm sure everybody is busy. > Just wanted to say I miss those that I have not heard from. > > > > What does everybody think about the new health-care bill as nobody has > mentioned. I know that is a political issue, but very important for our > ability to survive and get what we need. There has been talk about taking > away from Medicare. Medicaid is also having problems with reduced state > revenue for problems. Kansas has mentioned there will be some reductions > with populations such as ours, but I don't know where it will be targeted. > PCA hourly pay is very low and hard to find people that want to work with no > increases at all for a number of years. > > > > Just wondering! > > > > > > > > . > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ >
