Hello Everyone! I apologize if this is lengthy, but I just need to get this out. My mom who is 71 recently had a COPD exacerbation and was hospitalized for a week. She has a history of CHF, Chronic Kidney Failure, and has had a tracheostomy for over 15 years.
Because we live in a small town I always have her transferred to a larger hospital that can take care of her better. Our hospital here has admitted that they are not equipped to care for tracheostomy patients because they don't have many. I've ran into issues in previous years where she had many mucus plugs and about died because they did not suction her correctly.
Her recent hospitalization was at a different facility then where she normally gets care. For 2 days they did nothing for her. She was gradually becoming delusional and was struggling to breathe. All they did was increase her oxygen and at one time was giving her too much. They said that she was compensated but she was still having difficulty. Her o2 stats got into the 40s and 50s at one point but they did not place her on a vent like the other hospital usually does when she gets that bad.
After days of me complaining, begging, and crying to listen to me. They decided to change her nebulizer treatments to help bring the mucus up out of her lungs and she finally returned to her baseline. They sent her home a couple days later. I feel like she came home too early. She seems different and has some residual confusion at times. I just feel like they did more damage to her than good by not being aggressive with their treatment in the beginning. She is a chronic co2 retainer.
Im not sure if Im looking for advice or just some support. Thanks everyone!