Monday, May 11, 2015

New Ventilator! Trilogy 100 vs. LTV 1150

Luke got a new vent last week, finally!!!  We are very excited about it and think it is great.  So far Luke is doing very well on the new vent.

So here's the deal, Luke has been on an LTV1150 since he came out of the hospital at 3 1/2 months old.  We had not serious thoughts of changing vents until we were at a special clinic for hypoventilaton and they suggested changing to the Trilogy.  When we talked to our regular pulmonolgoist they were all for it but said we needed to wait till the "sick" season was over.  To get a new vent we have to be admitted to the hospital for 1-2 nights to make sure Luke does well on the new vent.  Every vent ventilates a little bit different so you have to make sure that whoever is changing can tolerate the new ventilation.  Since there is a ventilator involved you have to be admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).  From late fall through early spring the PICU can be pretty busy and thus since we would be there voluntarily and no sick while changing a vent we would get kicked out if they needed a bed.  So to decrease the likelihood of making all the plans for a hospital visit 3 hours from home we waited till May.

You may be asking, "Why would you want a new vent?  What are the benefits?"  I created a video to show you why I love Luke's new Trilogy 100 ventilator.  It shows many of the differences between the two vents.

Please feel free to ask questions and share your Trilogy and LTV stories in the comments below!

Enjoy!