>
> You said you doubt that my Mom's lung was punctured when the nurse, in
> trying to suction the lungs, poked the tube in. All I can tell you is that
> (a) when the nurse was doing this my Mom was shouting in pain, but the
> nurse just kept on doing it, (b) this promptly lead to a heart attack and
> a swarm of medical personnel immediately descending on my mother, (3) soon
> the ICU head doctor told me that a lung had been punctured (and that my
> Mom might die any minute), but that they'd promptly inserted (surgically) a
> tube between the ribs and re-inflated the lung.
>

Wow!!!  How terrible!!!  Your poor mom (and you).  It is a very sad thing
when efforts to heal cause hurt instead.
>
> She was extubated this past Wednesday, and we hope that her throat &
> swallow-ability & gag-reflex -- all of which are very weak and which the
> doctor is concerned about -- will recover sufficiently so that she will be
> able to eat regular food & drink liquids again as soon as possible, and
> that she will NOT be prone to aspirate liquids or foods. But, though her
> throat is SLOWLY recovering -- slower, the doctor says, than he'd hoped --
> her cough-reflex is still weak (though maybe gaining a touch of strength)
> and so it's still a serious concern. (Note: The good news is that the
> doctor says that the E.N.T specialist has found that the throat & vocal
> chords are sore but NOT damaged.)

Aspiration pneumonia is insidious.  Frequent pneumonias, rather than
constant coughing while eating, are key in diagnosing the problem.  I
work on a geriatric unit where we encounter this condition alot.  I
remember one 88 year old who seem to be tolerating food just fine, and
was always hungry.  After his forth bout of pneumonia in 2 months, we
stopped feeding him - and cured him.  He was perfectly alert and
oriented, and a very delightful gentleman.  We even watched him while he
ate and didn't observe any gagging or choking.  A swallowing diagnostic
indicated a problem, but not a hugh problem.  We wound up inserting a PEG
tube, and he hasn't been back since.
------
Regards
Mary Ann