Has anyone ever been on a ventilator?

Has anyone ever had success weaning from a mechanical ventilator? I have been on for about 1 month and they keep saying I can get off it but it is taking forever.... What are the critical success factors to getting off it? I have COPD and had a lung cancer removed via VATS so a 1/3 removal of the upper left lobe. I breathed fine after the surgery but then got an infection. At this point, they say I my lung surgery is healed and the infection is gone but just having trouble getting off the vent. Just wondering what others may have been through as far as weaning off the vent. Thanks,.

First off sorry to hear about your health problems. Weaning a COPD patient from a ventilator is extremely difficult. What happens/has happened is your body has adapted to living with a higher level of CO2 than normal. This higher level of CO2 in your body reduces your hypoxic drive. Basically, your body has become addicted to the ventilator. The trigger for our body to breath, ventilate, is an increase in CO2. Since your body has adapted and compensated for the increased CO2 levels your drive to breath on your own is decreased.

Weaning is an art as much as it is a science. It may be time to request a different pulmonologist to oversee your care. You are doubly burdened having a lobectomy. You may never fully wean. The critical failure in ventilation is CO2 retention. Your blood gas values must be poor when off the ventilator. Just work as hard as you can and keep in mind that you may never fully wean. If you need a machine to help you ventilate, so be it. There are home models of ventilators that are very portable and user friendly. You may be headed in that direction, but try to get a different pulmonologist involved for your own sake. Good luck.

Yes, you can wean from the ventilator. I have seen patients with lobectomies, entire lung removals, vent dependent patients and so on be weaned from the ventilator even when doctors and nurses have said they cannot be weaned.

First, you probably need to goto an aggressive LTAC (Long term acute care) facility. Their goals are to wean patients from ventilators. It takes small steps and great patients. Your respiratory rate will be slightly higher with that section of your lung missing and you may have some psychological dependence on the vent. Also, after being on the vent for this long of a period of time your muscles for ventilation are weak. They will strengthen, but it can be a slow process. I have seen some patients take upto 9 months to wean from ventilators and some only a few weaks.

Keep trying and be patient. Your body is adjusting. A new pulmonologist may be a good idea. Also, maybe some antianxiety meds if you are getting anxious during the weans.

I love what Griff said about weaning off the vent is an art. He is right on. My husband was on a ventilator for 8 months in the hospital. Although his condition was different then yours. My husband has emphysema. I can't say that the Docs didn't try everything they could because they did. Lots of different doctors & several Pulmonary doctors. When a younger Pulmonary doctor came on staff, new to this hospital, he had my husband off that vent in less then a week. He put the vent on very different settings then it had been & it worked like magic, (I could have hugged that doctor all day long).
For myself, being at that hospital so long, I learned that not everyone reacts to the same treatments or medicines in the same way. But it wouldn't hurt to request another Pulmonary doctor to get active on your case.