There is hope for people using a respirator who could live without it but think it is impossible. Mrs. Zofia also thought so, but she became stubborn and her life now looks completely different. It is similar in the case of Mrs. Danuta. It's all thanks to the help of doctors, rehabilitators and psychotherapists.
Mrs. Zofia Ronnekvist-Krawczyk is 72 years old and last year she underwent a serious operation to remove a large abdominal aortic aneurysm. After the surgery, she was so bad that doctors had to put her on a ventilator to breathe for her. There was no indication that she would ever be separated from him. However, she didn't give up.
– What kind of life is this at a distance of a pipe? (…) I realized that I probably don't want to live and I will do everything not to live at the distance of this pipe – says Mrs. Zofia.
SEE ALSO: Even moderate physical exercise prolongs life, say cardiologists
Thanks to the help of doctors and rehabilitators from the Care and Treatment Center in Konstancin-Jeziorna, Mrs. Zofia achieved her goal – she was disconnected from the respirator and returned home.
The government wants the so-called critical medicines were produced in Poland. For many patients it is a matter of life and deathMarek Nowicki/Fakty TVN
There are no rehabilitation departments in the National Health Fund
It was similar with Mrs. Danuta Dzwonkowska, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. – An amazing experience. I entered the house, sat down and cried with joy at being home, she confesses.
And here everything was possible thanks to the support of psychotherapists from the “Konstancja” Respiratory Ventilation Center near Warsaw. – Last year, we managed to discharge 19 patients out of the 58 we have here on a daily basis – says Bartosz Sadownik, an anesthesiologist from the center near Warsaw.
This is a very good result. – In many other centers, they don't really think about trying to improve patients' health and trying to wean them off the ventilator, so we consider this to be our great success – says Tomasz Kupczyk from the “Konstancja” Center.
In the country, we have over 12,000 patients mechanically ventilated in homes, hospitals and various types of centers. Several percent of this large group would have a chance to live without a respirator if they were actively rehabilitated, like Mrs. Zofia or Mrs. Danuta, but there is no money for it.
– There are actually no reimbursed rehabilitation units for such patients. We have no place to send these patients for intensive rehabilitation, points out Dr. Karina StefaÅ„ska-Wronka, a consultant in anesthesiology and intensive care from Greater Poland.
A patient on a ventilator who does not undergo rehabilitation can lose a kilogram of muscle in one week.
Main photo source: Fakty TVN