Home Nursing

My daughter Madison has a trach (tracheamalacia). Â*We are having a hard time getting nursing care. Â*My insurance has authorized 16 hrs a day 7 days a week for the first month. Â*Anyone in NW Indiana who can suggest some agencies?

I would love to be able to care for Madison myself but I am totally freaked out by her trach. Â*My husband and I have had to do two emergency trach changes. Â*Madison has a trach, g-tube, 25% oxygen and CPAP. Â*She requires alot of care. Â*I'm just not comfortable taking on 100% of her care. Â*She is in the hospital now ready to come home the hold up is home nursing care. Â*

Will I ever be able to care for her? Â*I don't think I will be comfortable until the trach is gone.

[indiemum]

I understand how scary it can be in the beginning but beleive me, it just gets easier and easier. I am not a nurse and I feel MORE qualified to care for Indie myself as I know her better than anyone. Once your peanut is home I bet you will feel the same way. Good for you for already doing 2 trach changes, it sounds like even though it was scary you handled it. I think most parents on this site would agree and some don't even have nursing. I don't know about nursing in Indiana because we are in Canada but I beleive you will just take over and do an amazing job. Good Luck

Kelly

[nicksmom]

Kelly is right, it does get easier and we were all very scared at first. Â*I still get a little upset when we have to do trach changes only because I hate to see Nicholas cry. Â*We have been home 3 months and we wouldn't have anyone else take care of him. Â*We have nursing care but noone knows him like we do and the nurses seam to stress me out more.

Once you are home you will realize that the trach is much easier than it looks. Â*Nicholas doesn't mind suctioning or string changes but he hates diaper changes, so the trach stuff becomes easy its the "normal" stuff that becomes hard

Where in indiana do you live? Â*I am originally from there and I have a sister-in-law who is a nurse in Muncie. Â*I will ask if she knows anything that would help you out.

Good luck
Carrie

[christyw]

I just wanted to mention that you are probably THE BEST person (along with your husband) to care for your child. Please keep in mind that although home nursing agencies probably send many of their nurses to homes with patients with trach, vents, etc...many of those nurses aren't going to be as well trained as you when it comes to trachs (I've had some who had never worked with a trach or vent - thank god we knew what we were doing&#33 I always assumed full responsibilty for gaithy (our now 2.5 y/o) even when a nurse was here, because I never wanted to let them have 100% trust - they didn't know her like I did. As all others have mentioned, it gets easier and easier. We too had some scary moments the first week home - had to do two emergency trach changes thinking Gaithy way plugged. Come to find out it was a granuloma blocking the end of the trach, a granuloma that one of our home nurses had caused by not knowing the proper way to suction. After that I became much more vigilant. Still, nursing is nice to have for awhile, and I wish you luck in filling the shifts - you will need your breaks and alone time.

christy