The Vest is All Ordered!

I just got off the phone from ordering the Vest, YEA!! She said it should be here in about 1 week. We are going to do a 30 day trial to see if we like it. They are going to send out a Rep. to show us how to use it, but from what everybody tells us, it's not that hard. I called a couple of CF moms in the area to get their advice before we made our decision.

We decided to go with The Vest by Hill Rom. It is the one that has been around the longest, and Hill Rom is the brand that most Hospitals use for their equipment. The Hill Rom also just came out with a brand new model-105. It is a smaller unit, has hoses that will pop right off if need to, has a remote, and comes with a neat carrying bag on wheels. It has a lifetime guarantee, will replace any parts if they break, and will send you a bigger vest for no extra charge when needed.
His chest right now is 18 inches, which is the smallest it can be for the Vest. So, Lil' Chris just made it, thank God! Another reason we went with the Hill Rom, is that when his chest is 23-25 inches, he can get the Chest Vest by Hill Rom. In their latest studies, their breath test(I think is what she called it) has had higher scores when the Chest Vest is used rather than the full vest. There are still tests being done as to which frequency setting works best too. The 2 different vests have different frequencies(which is the speed of compression).

What is The Vest? It is an Airway Clearance Technique. Instead of having to do manually physio therapy and pound on his chest, back, and sides, he would wear this vest that would do all the work for you. The Vest is hooked up to a machine that compresses and decompresses air in the vest to make it beat on his chest, back, and sides. The pounding helps clear the mucus from the lungs, to lesson the chance of bacteria building up in the lungs. This reduces the chances of getting lung infections that leads to irreversible lung damage. The doctors will tell us what frequency to program the machine to. The machine saves that program, so we can just start right away each time. The different frequencies make it pump the air slow or fast, soft or hard.

One of the CF moms that I talked to today said that her 4 1/2 year old girl uses the Smart Vest(a different kind). She does it 2 times a day for 15 minutes each. She uses 3 different frequencies at 5 minute intervals. After each 5 minutes, they tell her to cough, then do the next frequency. She can put the vest on all by herself and turn on the machine all by herself. She has had the vest since she was 3. They all LOVE it.

From what the doctors told us from the very beginning, Lil' Chris and all CFers will wear a Vest for the rest of their lives. They will use it 2 times a day for 30 minutes each when they get older, and maybe use it more when they have a cold and need to get more mucus up. Maybe it is just our clinic or state or country that does this, I'm not exactly sure. I'm just glad that we are getting it now, it will make all of our lives MUCH easier:)

For those who read this blog and don't have a vest, I highly recommend asking your doctor. It could add years to your life I'm told. The only problem is that it is VERY expensive, but WELL WORTH IT. They range from about $13,000 to about $16,000. Luckily for us, our insurance and secondary insurance (that our state has), will pay for most of it, if not all of it. So ask about the vest, ask about a secondary insurance, and ask about other ways to get the vest paid for. I was told that the Hill Rom Vest has a program that will cover the cost if you can't afford it. It doesn't' hurt to ask; )

I'll let you know when we get the Vest and how Lil' Chris does with it,
M
PS. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT DAY!! I'll post some pics of Lil' Chris all dressed up later ; ) It was so cute!