My LTV 1150 ventilator!

With my massive interest in the medical field, I believe God has blessed me tremendously.

Being that I've spent my life undergoing procedures, operations, and so many other things, and been on and off pieces of equipment, I've had quite a bit of experience.

Not many people my age will drone on and on about the soothing sound that an oscillating ventilator makes, or the relaxing sound that my LTV 1150 ventilator makes as it breathes for me, or assists my breathing, if I initiate spontaneous/Assisted breaths.

Not many people will drone on and on about the Hubbard tank, and the aspects of burn management in the 80s VS what it is today.

I've been blessed to have the understanding of the medical field, and it's because of this, I give praise to God because now that I require a trach, and a ventilator, I can manage this stuff just fine.

I know that holding the Select button down on my LTV ventilator is going to get me into the Extended Functions Menu where I can adjust Alarm Volume, Apnea Interval time, Rise Time, Flow Termination, High and Low PEEP, and High Frequency alarms, as well as many many other parameters for my ventilator.

I also know that being that I don't have my own IPV Machine, I can do something like an IPV machine can do, but not at 100 to 300 breaths per minute.

IPV is short for Intrapulmonary Percussive Ventilation.

Essentially what it is, is it helps to loosen up my secretions with high frequency bursts of medication aerosolized medications, that is, into my lungs, to help me get the secretions where I can suction them.

My DME does noy supply this equipment and so what I do Is I connect my Nebulizer to my ventilator in line,and then, I Switch my ventilator to Pressure Control mode, and Increase my PEEP to get my Mean Airway Pressure up into the 20s and 30s and then I adjust my Pressure Control, to get a good percussive effect, and now the ventilator's essentially giving me a slow but obvious percussive treatment.

My ventilator goes up to 80 breaths per Minuet, and I'm very thankful that I have the LTV, and did not get a Trillogy ventilator, because it only goes up to 60 breaths per Minuet from what I have heard.

I perform my IPV, and then, I suction myself with the means of the In Line Suction system, and then I put Saline down the trach tube, and suction it out.

This helps Tremendously.

It takes titration during my IPV, and I perform this very carefully.

On my LTV ventilator, I've got my alarms set very carefully, and always adjust them according to the Pressures that I see when I'm on the ventilator.

I essentially do what you would see the Respiratory Therapists do in the hospital.

I've seen in some pictures, the LTV ventilator's High Pressure Alarm set at something extreme such as 60 or 65 and this is profoundly dangerous.

I've seen the Low Minute Volume alarm turned off in some cases, and this is all right, because in some situations, such as when the Passy Muir Valve is in line with the ventilator, you are going to get false alarms, because the air will be going out through the mouth, instead of returning through the ventilator, and so the Low Minute Volume Alarm will go off obviously, because the ventilator is administering Tidal Volume, and not seeing anything coming back.

I also love my LTV ventilator, because the settings are extremely easy to adjust, and so If a setting needs to be adjusted, I can just press the button below that setting, and use the rotary knob to adjust it, and then confirm that setting by pressing that button once again.

I'm so thankful that I had a say in the matter when I was in the hospital.

I made sure to express that they were not to come near me with a Trillogy, and that the LTV ventilator was my favorite ventilator, and had the most functions.

The Lord blessed me in that I did get the LTV.

This ventilator is the size of a Laptop, and even with it's small size, it is packed with functions.

It's essentially an ICU ventilator without the oxygen blender or the waveforms, yet if you have the correct cables and a monitor, you can plug this into the ventilator, and then you have waveforms, loops, and other very very important ventilator graphics.

I use a wheelchair that I have which was ordered for me a couple of years ago, and so I can put my LTV ventilator in this wheelchair, and I can wheel it around.

I do this with my backup ventilator.

I have one that is beside my bedside that's on a mobile ventilator stand, and I also have the backup one which once loaded up in my wheelchair is easy to move around whilst it's connected to me.

It's not an uncommon seen to see me at the piano, playing Bach pieces whilst attached to my ventilator.

I'd never been able to find any videos on YouTube of a person who's a ventilator user playing the piano.

But I put my video up there a while back, and that was the Video I conducted for Aaron.

He's the boy with Trisomy 18 that I have talked to you a lot about.


A very special boy who has become very special to me.


My LTV ventilator is a turbine driven ventilator, so sometimes when the flow increases in the ventilator, the pitch will increase, and so my Mom says that it sounds almost like a hearing aid does sometimes when it squeaks.

My Mom, when I explained to her what I did during my IPV, thought that this was extremely interesting.

I find it very comfortable.

I find high frequencies very comforting to me, and one night fell asleep during an IPV treatment, and didn't wake up until a few hours into the wee hours of the morning, when Mom came into my room to see my rate at 80 breaths Per Minuet, and then, I turned it down.

It was very comforting though, but still.
The LTV ventilator has this white device that connects to the power cable, and it is known as the Sprint Pack.

This consists of two batteries that power my ventilator for several hours.

I also have a large black  battery that I believe could power the ventilator for 8 to 10 hours depending on my settings, and  how much flow the machineneeds to deliver.

Older home ventilators like the LP10 ventilator did not have the option of Pressure Support, and so, in between machine administered breaths, if the patient were in SIMV mode, they were going to have to breathe against the ventilator's circuit, and the artificial airway, which is most cases would be a tracheostomy.

This was obviously hard, because whenever they were not receiving the ventilator administered breaths, they did not get flow when they breathed in.

Now with pressure support, the patient gets some assistance to help them generate a large Tidal Volume.


My Pressure Support level is set at 15cmH2O and my PEEP is set at 10cmH2O and so on the recent LTV ventilators, which have internal PEEP, this would be Pressure Support in addition to the PEEP setting.

10 of PEEP, plus the 15 of Pressure Support is 25cmH2O of Peak Inspiratory Pressure Total!

Every day, I thank the Lord for helping me get this LTV ventilator.

I've heard the Trillogy ventilator is nice, because it is quiet, but some patients do not tolerate it well, and also, it's essentially a very very fancy BiPAP machine.

Listen.

If a patient has a trach, you need to connect them to a ventilator.

Not a BiPAP machine, although, BiPAP is just a Trademark name from Respironics, and essentially it's BiLevel Positive Airway Pressure.

Well, a ventilator in Pressure Control, is going to administer two levels of Pressure.
One for inspiration, and one for Exhalation, which is going to be your PEEP.

PEEP Equals Positive End Expiratory Pressure.

But also, the LTV has more functions than the Trillogy, and so I was profoundly greatful when I saw the thing arriving in my hospital room, and said in my head, "Thank you, Dear Jesus For This wonderful Blessing!"

Thank you all, for listening to me rant on about this wonderful ventilator, and may God's blessings be with you all!