Going home. What equipment will I need when I go home?

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#laryngectomy #totallaryngectomy #cancer #laryngeal #larynx #voice

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When they leave hospital obviously they'll have their bag, what else will they need to take with them or what will need to be with them when they're at home?

So I think that's a really important question and I think um anybody who has this surgery will hopefully talk to somebody who's also had this surgery previously and as part of that discussion I'm sure they will disclose everybody has a bag or a kit or a purse or a wallet or a fishing box or something that they keep their essential kit in and they've got a home kit and they've got a kind of on-the-go kit, most people, and in the home kit or at home you need to make sure that you've got a really good mirror with a light that you can see your stoma and your voice prosthesis if you have one, you need to have a dilator that you can use in emergencies if you need one or a catheter, you need to have things to clean the stoma, so you might have tweezers or cotton bud applicators, but I would say at this point it's really important to realize that this surgery leaves obviously an open entrance down to the windpipe so making sure that you only use equipment that's licensed for use around the open stoma, that you use really safely the brushes that are provided, for example that have the little t bar on them so that they can't be dropped down the stoma, so you'll need a torch or a flashlight, you might need particular swabs that you might like to clean with, wipes that might be provided and again just making sure that you use exactly the wipes that are designed for use around the stoma because you don't want to be breathing in anything that's very harsh. What else have you got Alan in your kit, what have I missed?

Oh interestingly I did have a fishing box I did, and I've still got my fishing box I must say I still have my fishing box I haven't used it for a while because after nine years you literally might get a handful of things I need, you know once you're settled down you know exactly what you need or you know a couple of brushes, the tweezers, you know some really nice hygienic vibes to clean the area you know then i'm done really, but that's me i'm nine years so I mean i'm thinking um that that's i mean that's really good information, but I know that some patients when they go they may have a suction machine or they may have nebulizers, is that common that people take all these home with them, will there be a big truck delivering

Yeah that's a really good question Alan, because obviously one of the big considerations after surgery is keeping this area very well humidified and so making sure that people understand that breathing in direct room air probably isn't the best so really trying to make sure for really good lung health that the stoma is covered with one of these HMEs as we call them, heat moisture exchanges as you've got, and you can use a nebulizer and certainly in the early days post-surgery people will be using nebulizers. Now interestingly I think it varies from center to center, it probably varies from country to country, so not all of our patients go home with a nebulizer and not everybody goes home with a suction machine, but i think some centers they do so i think it it just depends on the center and probably individual needs as well, but i think really remembering that when you go home you have to have the knowledge and the safety so that you make sure for example you don't develop a mucus plug within the trachea so that everything is so well humidified that that's quite unlikely to happen and that you know what you would do if that did happen.

Thank you.

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