That was interesting, but it’s bordering on my ability to decipher the medical language. Could someone distill that into something a non-doctor could better understand?
In plain English, multiple protocols need to be written and followed in order to determine who would benefit from mechanical ventilation, and to identify patients for whom this treatment would be futile.
That’s a little bit more brief than I was looking for.
I was hoping for a better explanation of Type L and Type H in some closer to plain English. I did think it was interesting that there was, apparently, some resemblance to HAPE even though, obviously, these people are not at high altitude.
I amn’t much gud at the docter talkin . . . and that ain’t what that says at all.
CMC fnord!
I have seen numbers of 20-ish to just under 50% recovery after being on a ventilator…call it 1:2 to 1:5 odds Those odds are not great, but I would’t characterize it at “very low.” At 57 years old this month, I’d sure be willing to give o few weeks of this sucks for a shot for another 20 or so years as a payoff.
I’ve never had Coronavirus nor been intubated but I feel like the OP is akin to saying, “I heard that they are using capsaicin injections to heal patients with 3rd degree burns. No way for me, that would be too painful!”
Well…yeah, but, it’s not like option B isn’t just as horrible. It’s going to be massively horrible either way. Between horrible + death or horrible + not-death, I feel like the latter option is the clear winner. To be sure, if there was a wonderful + not-death option then that would be what you want, but that’s not what we’re talking about. They don’t intubate you because your life is going well.
I thought that was worth repeating.
My own thoughts are… if there’s a realistic chance of recovery I’d take the intubation, even if it’s a relativity low chance, but I’d want my next of kin to let me pass on if it turned into a situation where I just wasn’t going to get better. The trick is knowing the difference.
I’ve been intubated a few times for general anesthesia and I don’t have a problem with it in similar circumstances. Specifically, when I’m unconscious. I’ve read horrific descriptions of how terrible it is when they have to intubate you while conscious, and that’s not something I want.
But worse, due to some physical issues I have, I’ve learned from the medical community that I’m hard to intubate. It apparently requires scoped (video) equipment and possible juvenile-sized equipment. So while I’m not very afraid of catching Covid itself, I’m terrified of the treatment of it, so I’ve been quarantining myself pretty strictly for a few weeks now.