Being on a respirator is not at all very pleasant IMHO! I was on one back in 1984 for three days after open heart surgery. Maybe things have changed since then, just about thirty years, but I doubt it. Unless it's hooked up to a tracheotomy tube in your neck so you could talk a little. Jim.

3 weeks in ICU.....like an LSD trip most of the time and only way to communicate during brief periods is by writing on a piece of paper....

Did tell my wife that if she hadn't prayed to every saint she knew n even those she did not know....I was a gonna...lol

Roepete, Much like Jim's experience, when I had heart issues, I was on a respirator for about a week. It's not something I would volunteer for. I truly hope you don't have to experience it. Take care, Bill

That's not true. I was on a respirator for three days after being hospitalized. I have heard that sometimes it can be difficult for a person to transition back to breathing on their on, but not impossible. Blessings.

I was onalife support for two weeks last summe. which included a trach..But I made it. It was very rough and a lot of work...I had to be winged off of trach. Also due to length of time on life support I had to leran to talk..walk...eat..the whole nine yards..kinda like coming back from a severe stroke...i was in hospital a total of two months...But i am now back to 75%..of where I was before infection....This is a very hard and scary road to go down...i hope this helps...joanne

Joanne, if you don't mind ..... was it a lung infection that put you in the hospital? .If it was, what was the infection? My pulmo found a pretty serious MRSA infection in my lungs during a Bronchosopy to drain fluid my lungs in Feb., 2012 through the tissue samples he took out for biopsies. Instead of treating the infection, we (him and I) are on a "wait and watch" protocol with it. He said I was lucky ..... The nodules he took the tissue samples from looked to be cancerous on the CT scans taken the week before.

You can PM your answers to my questions if you are more comfortable that way.

Thank you in advance! Breathe easy! Jim
BTW: MRSA scares the unowhat out of me. That is the reason I had to have open heart surgery on Mar.4th,1984 when I had to be put on a respirator afterwards.. The MRSA had "eaten" a hole in the walls between the right and left sides of my hear the size of a .quarter according to the thoracic surgeon.. The doctors tried to find a suitable donor heart, but they were running out of time, so they removed my heart, made the necessary repairs, sewed my heart back together and put it back into my chest 12 hours later, and miraculously, it started beating on the first current from the paddles!

And here I am today, a!ive with a wonderful bunch of new friends to antagonize, almost on a daily basis! ALL THANKS TO MY LORD JESUS AND FATHER GOD !!!!! They actually gave me a lot more than my life back, that's for sure! So, the way I look at it, my body may be up there in age (69 this coming Dec 7th)., but my "rebuilt" heart is only 29 years "young" this coming Sunday!

, PS:
Having lived with Parkinson Disease since 1976, and DX'd with end, stage emphysema in (gulp) March, 2010. I truly feel blessed when I am "with" all of you.

So, when I say I love y'all with all of my heart, you just have to believe that I do. Each and every one of you, in your many unmistakable ways, are the truest Blessings any man could ever hope for!

I love each and every one of you, in God's name! Jim

Dear Mr. Jim....I do not posting what happen..One night I had a serius sinus headache. So I went to lay down. My family said they argued with me for two days to go to ER..I refused..like a dummy..I was told I talked to everybody..I do not remember any of this.. After they got my blood work back they decided to put me in a chemical indused coma. They figured if they could save me this would be the only way...Once you are put on a ECMO with trach they take you off 10 days later.You basically either make it or not.. The whole time you are on this ECMO your muscles waste away 10 times faster per day than normal bedbound patients..They believe this was from a MRSA infection..They drained my lungs for ten days . The pictures my daughter took were showing a dark g reen thick liquied. I was three times the size I normally were.. After taken off machine I was weaned off all coma medications. This took about 4 weeks to clean out my system and then they took out trach...I remeber oening my eyes and being unable to move..Kinda like a nightmare...I was wearin diapers and being turned every two hours depending on which shift it was..You could hear but could not speak...The worse part was your memory..Everydyay they would ask me the same questions and I could not remember the answers..they would ask me to blink for answers...I was transfer to aggresice rehab where I learned to move arms and hands and feed myself. As for walking that came weeks later...After two weeks of rehab I was sent home with Hospice.....One day I got mad and threw everybody out..My daughter brought me a walker and I taught myself how to walk slowly without falling. Within two weeks I was walking and driving and durin some of my normal chores. I still am just moving in 2nd gear.....Now I am going thru the transplant roller coaster ride once again....I have just about decided to give this up and let me run my course.... I have learned once you have MRSA you are prong to catch it again..in other words it lays dormant in your system and activated when exposed to it again... I hope this has answered some of your questions if not feel free to ask...in my thoughts Joanne P>S> overlook errors...just thinking about this experience scares me..alot happens to your body and mind when you go thru this


Dear Roepete...You can survive this but it will be the hardest experience you will ever go thru...