She dismissed it as just another seasonal cold on Jan. 2.
Two days later she had a 104-degree temperature prompting her to go to the Allegheny General Hospital emergency room, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia, prescribed antibiotics and sent home.
What happened next was a full-blown life-and-death emergency that Terri Thieret, 48, an AGH nurse of 25 years, never could have imagined after she forgot to get a flu shot because of the rat race of daily life: When her condition deteriorated further, she was forced back to the hospital and placed in the intensive care unit.
And there she would remain for the next three months...
...Two months without any bodily movement had left her feeling paralyzed. She was unable to lift her hand or raise her legs. She couldn't hold a pen or a phone. The months in bed also left her with a pressure ulcer on her back 5 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep into the muscle. Early in April, she was transferred to the West Penn Acute Rehab Unit and was released at the end of April, finally returning home to continue physical and occupational rehabilitation there.'''...
Hers was an exceptionally long time on ECMO-54 days-which is testament to the phenomenal nursing care she received that didn't result in any permanent complications," he said. The length of time on ECMO "is almost a record here and probably a record for someone with as good an outcome as she had. She may be coming back to work in a week." She was in fact cleared to return recently...
Of course, the big public message here is the importance of flu vaccines. Theiret and her husband, a drugstore manager, say they are newly committed to getting immunized to help prevent the ordeal they just experienced.
Thank you so much for sharing, and for explaining typical ECMO vs. the Nuvo Lung. I actually hadn't heard of that before. I've taken care of lots of pre-op heart transplants on LVADs which the can be home with, but no Nuvo Lungs.
I saw the comment about ambulating on ECMO and was like "huh???" The last ARDS pt I had had a P/F ratio worthy of ECMO, but it was decided against (trying to be somewhat vague). She was prone for...26, 27 hrs? (Talk about pressure ulcers!) 100% FiO2, 20 of PEEP, max Flolan, and SpO2 still dropped to 60% within seconds of flipping supine.
And just thinking back to my other ECMO pts....they weren't walking.
Anyway, thank you again for sharing with us! I was amazed when I read the story, and now in awe to hear all of the details!
Not sure about adult ECMO, but in the peds ICU, our ECMO patients cannot be 'turned'. We place them on pressure reduction surfaces, and every hour or two wiggle our hands beneath them to reduce pressure, but because of our patient's size relative to the size of the cannulas, turning could dislodge the catheter tip from their teeny tiny SVC/RAs.
54 days on ECMO - all I can say is wow!
Yes thank you for explaining this, we do not do ECMO and I did not realize they cannot be turned.
Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN
5,047 Posts
Thank you so much for sharing, and for explaining typical ECMO vs. the Nuvo Lung. I actually hadn't heard of that before. I've taken care of lots of pre-op heart transplants on LVADs which the can be home with, but no Nuvo Lungs.
I saw the comment about ambulating on ECMO and was like "huh???" The last ARDS pt I had had a P/F ratio worthy of ECMO, but it was decided against (trying to be somewhat vague). She was prone for...26, 27 hrs? (Talk about pressure ulcers!) 100% FiO2, 20 of PEEP, max Flolan, and SpO2 still dropped to 60% within seconds of flipping supine.
And just thinking back to my other ECMO pts....they weren't walking.
Anyway, thank you again for sharing with us! I was amazed when I read the story, and now in awe to hear all of the details!