Another intubation question

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Some of you are familiar with my ordeal, but I'll just relate it again (not the whole story) so you can get the gist of it.

I had an emergency surgery for a seroma/hematoma that had formed in my thyroidectomy incision. I was dyspneic and had stridor. When I awoke from the procedure, I was in MICU on the ventilator. A pulmonologist had been consulted. No one knew (surgeon, anesthesiologist, PACU) prior to the pulmonologist consultation that my right mainstem bronchus had been intubated.

OK, I was just wondering why no one could tell that my right mainstem had been intubated? Why a pulmonologist had to be called in to tell them what they had done?

Melinda

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No one looked at the xray, if one was done for ETT placement. And just guessing, you were oxygenating well enough with just the one lung that you didn't have any clinical symptoms of a right mainstem intubation.

Just my thoughts.

In all fairness, what was the timeframe from the OR/PACU to MICU and the pulmonologist "consulting" on you?

Donn C.

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I was hypoxemic that's why they consulted the pulmonologist and sent me to MICU. My husband said that I was in PACU for at least an hour. The surgery lasted about 40 minutes. One more thing, when my lung collapsed, I had a tension pneumothorax. How come they couldn't figure out the cause of my distress?

Melinda

No one looked at the xray, if one was done for ETT placement. And just guessing, you were oxygenating well enough with just the one lung that you didn't have any clinical symptoms of a right mainstem intubation.

Just my thoughts.

In all fairness, what was the timeframe from the OR/PACU to MICU and the pulmonologist "consulting" on you?

Donn C.

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not real sure if anyone listened to bilateral breath sounds, was an xray done immediately after intubation, how long till you desaturated, where were you intubated,

Tension pneumo? may have been the primary cause of your troubles in the beginning.

this is a cloudy clinical picture at best without knowing the circumstances that initiated the ordeal, where you were when it started, ie intubated on the floor transfered to icu time frame involved etc. what caused the tension pneumo?

it's hard to gauge a feeling for what went on not being there or to determine fault, if any, without a more clear picture.

d

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The PACU nurse told my girls to not be "shocked" by my appearance, that they would be "helping me to breathe"; when I was brought out, my daughters said that I was intubated and being "bagged". This really traumatized my youngest daughter! While I was in MICU, I remember the doctor ordering x-rays. From my understanding, you don't wait for x-ray results with a tension pneumothorax...the situation is critical, calls for fast action...it is weird...maybe they wanted me to die??? :stone

Melinda

not real sure if anyone listened to bilateral breath sounds, was an xray done immediately after intubation, how long till you desaturated, where were you intubated,

Tension pneumo? may have been the primary cause of your troubles in the beginning.

this is a cloudy clinical picture at best without knowing the circumstances that initiated the ordeal, where you were when it started, ie intubated on the floor transfered to icu time frame involved etc. what caused the tension pneumo?

it's hard to gauge a feeling for what went on not being there or to determine fault, if any, without a more clear picture.

d

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