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Today’s article is about, “Should My 90-Year-Old Mother After Stroke & CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) Have a Tracheostomy? Quick Tip for Families in ICU!”

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Should My 90-Year-Old Mother After Stroke & CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) Have a Tracheostomy? Quick Tip for Families in ICU!

Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, today’s tip is a question from Nikki who says, “The doctors are recommending not using a tracheostomy due to my mom’s previous strokes, 13 minutes back to life CPR. Her age, she’s 90 and she’s been on the ventilator for 7 days. What should we do?” Well, Nikki, thank you so much for sending your question through.

Look, I assume your mom doesn’t have an advanced care plan, but I can’t be certain, of course. In the absence of an advanced care plan, the decision-making falls back to family, or to next of kin, or to power of attorney. I presume given that you are the daughter, obviously, you would have discussed this with your mom prior that if a situation like this occurs, that she wants to have everything done, and that’s only fair enough, and that’s very reasonable as well.

Now, just quickly looking at the details that you are sharing, she had previous strokes, and she needed 13 minutes back to life after CPR. A lot of it depends on how effective CPR is, CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. How long did it take for the heartbeat to come back?

But a lot of it also depends on your beliefs, on your culture. Do you believe that life should be ended prematurely? Do you and your family, your mom, in particular, believe that everything should be done? So, a lot of it comes down to your beliefs. A lot of people that work with us, they say, “Well, I believe the only person or the only thing that can take life away is God, and no one else can make a decision whether life can be taken away or not.” I tend to agree with that, that it’s only God that decides what’s going to happen next.

So, another question here is, do you want to take your mom home after she had a tracheostomy? One way to manage this situation, for example, is to do a tracheostomy, and then once your mom is hemodynamically stable, then she could go home with a tracheostomy with a service like Intensive Care at Home. You can find more information at intensivecareathome.com. So, I hope that really answers your question.

She’s been on a ventilator for 7 days. Now, tracheostomy should be done after sort of Day 10 to Day 14. Also, you should be checking if, can she be weaned off the ventilator even? Does she even need a tracheostomy?

What’s her Glasgow Coma Scale like? Why is she having the inability to be weaned off the ventilator? Why is that? So, those are all questions that need to be answered. Is there a small chance of her having the ventilator removed? I don’t know, but the question needs to be asked.

So, I hope that helps and don’t let anyone dissuade you from what you want.

It is you and your family that need to make sure that you are making informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.

 I know that’s why you’re sending me this email so that you can make informed decisions, and have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.

Also, even if your mom has a tracheostomy, there’s plenty of time to talk about end of life. If that’s the trajectory that you might want to go eventually, or your mom might want to go eventually, you can still talk about that after you’ve done a tracheostomy. Just make sure that your mom can stay alive for now and then you can map out the next step, there’s plenty of time to map out the next steps. Just do what you want at the moment and the hospital needs to comply with it. It’s as simple as that.

Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care, we have created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care where we answer your questions if you have a loved one in intensive care. You can get access to our membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care if you go to intensivecarehotline.com and click on the membership link, or you go to intensivecaresupport.org and you go get access there. In the membership, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day in the membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care over the phone, Skype Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I’ll make sure that you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence in this once-in-a-lifetime situation that you can’t really afford to get wrong when you have a loved one in intensive care.

I have worked in intensive care for over 20 years, nearly 25 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in intensive care.

We also offer medical record reviews in real-time so that you can get a second opinion in real-time. We also offer medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence.

I also encourage you to have a look at our testimonial section and in our podcast section where we interviewed clients. I can say without any hint of exaggeration, we have saved lives as part of our consulting and advocacy and that’s verified in our podcast and the testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. I have been consulting and advocating for families of critically ill patients in intensive care since 2013, all over the world.

Now, all of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to support@intensivecarehotline.com.

If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have, and share the video with your friends and families.

Thank you so much for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I will talk to you in a few days.

Take care for now.

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