Mom is now 94, in assisted living 3-4 years ago she developed COPD, made 4 trips to hospital with pneumonia, a slight leakage of heart valve which we were told couldn't do anything about, was determined to be a candidate for Hospice. We thought she was dying. Then we discovered she had dysphagia causing the pneumonia, treated and was released as no longer having dysphagia, reduced her oxygen to nighttime only, no pneumonia, and removed from Hospice. It's been 2 years of her being pretty healthy. Now she has O2 dropping to below 90, so 24 hour O2, Albuterol treatment 3 times a day and her doctors want her to go to Emergency Room in Baton Rouge. I said no. Too risky for CoVID19. I have been watching her with home treatments, teas, pushing her to Treat, but she seems to be growinig tired, esp with the breathing treatment. No antibiotics. Should I just go ahead and take her in to hospital (including me being at risk 68 yr old and overweight) or does anyone else have any ideas?
Get her to ER.
How many liters of oxygen is she on now? That may make the difference.
When my father was on oxygen, 90 was generally considered the low point for acceptable SAT rate.
Another possibility is to change the cannula tubes; they do get dirty and should be changed regularly (but I don't remember now how often). And beyond that, I've had ones that simply don't carry the oxygen; they must have been defective in some way. That's why I always carried back up cannulas with me whenever we left the house.
Same with batteries for the portable concentrators. I always had charged back-up batteries, just in case.
I would say she needs to be kept comfortable and beyond that, extra things may or may not be necessary at this point. Unless she is not on hospice and wants all measures to make her life as long as possible.
Good luck!
What I do know is that teas will do nothing to help her.
If it was me, I'd take her to the ER, let them put her on hospice care, bring her home with the support of hospice nurses who can ensure she can pass as comfortably as possible without suffocating to death.
GOOD LUCK!! What a stressful situation to be in for both of you. My mother is 93.5 and has had pneumonia 3x already in the past 5 years.