The Swedish Nose and Other New Things

The last few days have been filled with new things.  We had another nurse visit, a visit from a Physical Therapist, one emergency call to the ENT doctor, one routine call to the ENT clinic and one call to the manufacturer of the "Swedish Nose."  Here is what we learned.

Although we had prior experience with a feeding tube, we did not have the mic-key button before.  The benefit of the mic-key button is that you can eat "meals" instead of having a machine that slowing gives the food over time.  Well, it seems we have been a little exuberant at meal time, giving the food too fast.  The nurse advised us to allow 20 minutes per meal. 

Most of our excitement involves the trach--new territory for us.  Evidently, when you have a trach, especially at first, humidity is your friend.  At night, Ernie has a special humidifier that attaches to the trach to deliver warm, moist air directly to the tube.  However, this machine is not exactly portable.  Thus, what to do during the day especially when the heat is on, making the air even dryer?  We tried a room humidifier but it is not nearly as effective as the night humidifier.  Enter the "Swedish nose", also known as an "artificial nose."  (Don't ask about the origin of the name--guess the Swedes must have invented it.) 

The Swedish nose is a small, self-contained device that attaches to the end of the tracheostomy tube.  When Ernie exhales, the Swedish nose retains the heat and moisture and uses it to warm and humidify his breath when he inhales. Unfortunately, he can't wear his speaking valve when he wears the artificial nose but it is great when he is working in his office or sitting in the den reading. 

The call to the manufacturer ensued when the box of noses was delivered with no instruction.  We did not know how the humidification worked.  Were we to soak them in water first (they have little filters on the side)?  Our local ENT nurse had never heard of them.  The manufacturer was great--told us they were ready to use out of the box and explained the mechanism.  We will have to see what the otolaryngologist thinks of this when Ernie has his follow-up on Monday.