it's...different with children on MV. our friend John is head of the emergency department at the local tertiary care hospital. he says docs will do almost anything to avoid placing an infant on a ventilator because it's so difficult to wean them.
of course there is hope! many children are weaned from MV, some completely, some to just at night, some to a CPAP machine, etc.
but the OP said 'he's the joy of our home' which leads me to think this baby is at home, not in a hospital.
have you ever spoken to the parent of a child on MV who's at home? it's arduous and highly stressful for the parent. and frightening. if you have adequate insurance (or beaucoup bucks) there may be a period of the day in which a skilled nurse can be there to help... otherwise it's all on mom and dad since you can't just hire a teenager to care for the child.
these children are medically fragile, and it depends on the reason the child was placed on mechanical ventilation.
for obvious reasons i won't go into mortality rates here but the physical implications of a baby on MV are tremendous.
it's physically demanding for the parent with a child on MV at home... it's emotionally stressful and probably there's guilt involved (not that it's deserved). if there are older children the parent can't spend time taking them to ballet or ballgames, or even playing in the yard with them.
it's something parents learn to cope with in time, but the stress doesn't go away.
that's why she needs outside help just now.
