Where there is life, there is hope

I had a check up today at my pulmonologist's office and he told me that they had a woman in the ICU who was seventy-seven years old and really, not expected to survive. Her oxygen levels were at 100% and her PEEP was 15. Still, in his ICU, if the family wants to continue care, they do. They put this woman on one of the new beds... he said it almost looks like a spaceship, it rotates the patient without the doctors or nurses having to physically do this. Anyway, the next day, she got a little better and then a little better and then, they were able to reduce the paralytics and sure enough, she survived. I feel that if doctors allowed families to know the options, to realize that fifty percent of ARDS patients will survive, they will not give up too soon. My doctor said, and it is true, that fifty percent is pretty good. Not to minimize the critical nature of ARDS, but ARDS is one of those things that needs time to resolve. If you do not give it the time, if you pull the plug, the patient will die. I say it over and over again... Half of the patients who get ARDS will live, but all of those ARDS patients who have their vent removed too soon will die. There really is room for hope.