As I am sitting in my bed, I am becoming very short of breath. My ventilator is not giving me enough air pressure to my lungs, which causes me to breathe more quickly. I decide it is time to change out the tubing. I find a new tubing set in my closet. I rip open the package. As I am hooking up the new tubing, I notice this tubing is different from my old tubing. The exhalation valve is different. I think to myself, "Oh, good. I hope this new exhalation valve works better. The old exhalation valves were very fragile and broke easily." I finish attaching the tubing. I then hook back up to the ventilator.
Immediately, I notice my ventilator is giving me VERY TINY breaths of air. I try and try to breathe, but the longer the machine is on, the more ragged my breathing is becoming. I am checking everything on the tubing. I then notice on my ventilator, the leak is a third of what it usually is. (The exhalation valve creates a leak in the tubing which allows the carbon dioxide to escape. If you block the exhalation valve, the tubing leak decreases, which means the carbon dioxide cannot escape. The new tubing set is retaining almost all the carbon dioxide I am exhaling. This means with each breathe I take, I am inhaling more and more carbon dioxide.) The harder I try to breathe, the faster my breathing becomes. My heart is racing, and I am starting to tremble. It feels as though the world is going to end. My carbon dioxide levels are climbing high very quickly.
I frantically pick up the phone and call my respiratory therapist from my durable medical equipment company. I pray she answers. On the third ring she picks up. I am gasping for breathe as I tell her my issue with the tubing. She informs me, yes, the company has switched to these new tubing sets, but they are compatible with my ventilator. I explain my situation. She tells me she has some old tubing sets still in her inventory. She can have the tubing sets to me in a few days. But, in the meantime, I should switch over to my travel tubing. (My travel tubing is just a hose and does not have the ability to connect to my heater/humidifier. It just pumps room air directly into my lungs.) My respiratory therapist explains since my travel tubing is just an air hose, I will need to connect an exhalation valve to allow the carbon dioxide to escape.
EUREKA!!! That's it! That's how I can fix my tubing! I have an old-style exhalation valve. I can just take the exhalation valve off my new tubing and exchange it with an old-style exhalation valve. I explain my plan of action and thank the respiratory therapist for her help. I hang up the phone.
I frantically search my closet for an old-style exhalation valve. Behold! I find one. I struggle and struggle. Then "pop!" The exhalation valve breaks loose from my new tubing. I snap on an old-style exhalation valve. I quickly hook back up to my ventilator. I frantically take short, quick breaths, trying to rid my body of the carbon dioxide which has built up in my body. I watch the numbers on my ventilator. HALLELUJAH! The old-style exhalation valve is providing more leak in my tubing, which is allowing the carbon dioxide to escape. For the next half-hour, I do not move. I am exhausted, and my body trembles from the tremendous amount of stress. Very slowly, my carbon dioxide levels return back to normal. I thank God I was given the information and means to fix this issue. I am praying the new tubing exhalation valve does not cause trouble for anyone else. What a frightful experience.
"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!" (Psalm 150:6)
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