LTV Trial

Yesterday the RT came up with an LTV ventilator for me to try. The vent is sleek, lightweight & compact looking and at first glance is complicated looking to run but I wasn't going to be intimidated by that.

When the vent was shipped out for me, they forgot to send a full adult breathing circuit (tubing) with it. My RT had a pediatric circuit (tubing), so that's what we had to use.

Took the RT a few minutes to get things setup and ready for me but I was impressed how easy it was to hook the circuit (tubing) up to the LTV. She showed me how the batteries interfaced and how easy you could bleed in oxygen if you needed it.

She put me on the LTV and it felt much different than the LP10 that I use. Breathing kinda felt choppy and rushed at first and the RT explained how the LTV was using continuous flow and that my LP10 didn't have that.

She messed around with the settings a bit and was able to make me a little more comfortable. The BPM (breaths per minute) was set at 12 and I was still breathing at 26-30 BPM (breaths per minute). The breathing seemed not near as relaxed as the LP10 but the RT thought maybe having a pediatric circuit (tubing) could contribute to that. We did more tinkering and put the PEEP valve on and that went pretty good. She also explained the operation of the machine and how to lock my settings in. Didn't seem to hard even for me ;-)

I was happy she brought one up and the plan I think is to get a much longer trial of the LTV setup once I get to Montana. It probably will take some work but I think the LTV has real possibilities of becoming my new vent.

April 1st will be the start of my weekly Montana updates, so stay tuned for that over the few months.

Take care,

Mark

Anticipation

We have already entered March and Spring is at our doorsteps again. Spring to me has always been a time of anticipation and excitement. This year there is more excitement in my life than I can remember for a very long time. I'm excited that my life is moving forward and that my dream of freedom is almost at hand.

My big move to Montana is almost two months away and I can't wait to open this new chapter in my life. There are many new people to meet, new places to see, new challenges to take on, and progresses yet to be achieved.

The next 9 weeks or so will fly by as I try to ready myself as much as possible for the changes ahead. Starting on April the 1st, I'll be posting weekly entries here to document things leading up to my move and continuing through the summer. I'll make sure to include pics as well.

We recently held a poll at the vent group I moderate. We voted on changing our name from the Northern Plains Vent Support Network to the Vent Support Network. Our new website is at http://www.geocities.com/thevsn Our membership has also reached 60, and the future growth looks awesome.

Again start looking on April 1st for my moving updates.

Take care,

Mark