If you were in ICU on ventilator for many weeks and had the choice between having the pipe trough your?

mouth or through a trachostomy (neck) which would you choose? Knowing that nr 1 is VERY uncomfortable and nr 2 has more risks like bleeding?

Actually, an ET tube is higher risk than a trach, which is why they do the trach after a patient has been on an ET tube for up to 2 weeks and doesn't seem to be a candidate for weaning from the ventilator.. ET tubes have a higher risk for bleeding and for forming granulation tissue and scarring in the airway, as well as damage to the larynx (which contains the vocal cords).
I'd take the trach any day over an ET tube, not just for the lower risk of permanent injury, but I could use a Passy-Muir valve attached to the trach (yes, even while hooked up to the ventilator) which would allow me to talk. Additionally, it is feasible to eat by mouth with some trachs, but it is impossible while intubated.

If I were in ICU that long, it probably wouldnt matter to me... I would guess that I was on my last legs, and dying....... so why prolong it with anything..........

Been there, done that, rather keep the tube in my mouth.

id have to do the trach just cause the tube in the throat would freak me out i wouldnt be able to stop thinking about it

if you were in ICU on ventilator you would be sedated so Q is irrelevant and a tracheotomy is only used when the passage is blocked it is not your choice

Get the tracheotomy for sure!!Then you would be able to talk and eat too!

the one that doesn't involve bleeding

Having gone through the catheter in the throat regime, neither is too bad once you get used to it. Yanking the tube out of the throat is a tad painful. But the worst of it all is the ventilator forces you to breathe in that systematic pattern that you are not physically adjusted to for most of your life.

If I had a choice I would think through a trachostomy..I don't think I could handle waking up with it in my throat.. Wondering why u are wondering tho?!?!

neither. The breathing tube in the mouth is just awful. I was awake while on one at one point and it was just plain scary. So, I would rather die then have something breathe for me.

My daughter is almost 3 and has had a trach most of her life. If I were going to be on a ventilator permanently I would for sure say the trach, it gives you a more stable airway for the vent so you can go home. My daughter is at home on a ventilator and its made the world of diffrence.

Also from what i hear a trach in the long run is NOT as uncomfortable as an ET tube down your mouth, plus a trach would allow you to talk, where as an ET tube would not allow for speech.

Trach me anyday, I am too much of a talker to be quite