Gabby freed from ventilator!!!

[Still a Democrat]

TUCSON - As the grocery store in the Tucson shopping center that was the site of last week's shooting reopened, doctors on Saturday announced that they had replaced Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's breathing tube.

Doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center said Giffords (D-Ariz.) remained in critical condition and was recovering as planned. A surgical procedure known as a tracheotomy was performed Saturday morning, they said.

The "tracheotomy tube was placed in her windpipe, protecting her airway and freeing her from the ventilator," according to a statement released from the hospital. Surgeons also inserted a feeding tube to provide nutritional support.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/15/AR2011011501986.html

[SalmonChantedEvening]

1. K&R!

Such wonderful news. :)

[jillan]

2. That's great news but too bad she had to get a tracheotomy.

Whatever it takes to make her better!!

[Still a Democrat]

3. Is that considered a setback?

n/t

[jillan]

4. I'm not a doctor, but it just shows she still has a long road ahead of her... and that really isn't

a surprise.

I had a family member that was really sick and had to be on ventilator, then a trach... till eventually it was all removed :)

[Horse with no Name]

5. No. It is a standard of care in patients where there is a need to protect the airway

It really is much easier on a patient to have a trach than it is to have a tube running down their nose/throat.
Much more comfortable.:)

Not a setback though.

[itsrobert]

6. True

a tube down the throat into the lungs can cause bacteria build up at the end part of the tubes in the lungs which can cause pneumonia.

[rox63]

10. It's progress

If a patient's airway will need protection for more than a week or two, it's fairly standard to switch to a tracheostomy instead of the tubes that go through the mouth or nose. This will allow her to talk and take food and liquids by mouth eventually. The fact that she doesn't need the ventilator any more is the biggest progress. She is likely getting supplemental oxygen through the trach tube, but she is doing all the breathing on her own.

[jberryhill]

7. Maybe it's just me

...but I would hate to have details of my every medical procedure along with 3D gee whiz graphics of my body and mental functions be the subject of daily news reports.

I hope her recovery goes well and that she is someday able to communicate about her experience.

I don't know how many people here might remember the movie Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford, but it is a good treatment of the subject of the profound and life changing effects of traumatic brain injury. The expectation that Ms. Giffords is going to hop out of bed and be the same person anytime soon is pressure that nobody needs.

[tavalon]

8. She's being insulated from all of this, I'm sure

and notice, we haven't seen a single picture of her. One picture of her on Day two of this awfulness and we would be having a discussion about gun control immediately. People are actually getting a pretty valuable education on trauma care and what such an injury entails. I think it's a good thing.

[jberryhill]

9. Oh I get that

I'm just hoping that an appropriate level of discretion is exercised so that we don't get reports along the lines of how various bodily functions are progressing etc.

There's a line between being hopeful and supportive, and being voyeuristically intrusive into someone's medical affairs. I always wonder about the relationship of HIPAA to these situations where doctors are giving news conferences.

[tavalon]

11. They get the family's permission

No way, no how, would they be doing press conferences without her husband's approval.