Posts by Walter Robinson5

brightgull95 said:Is that 89% while on standard oxygen, high-flow nasal cannula, or non-invasive ventilation? And does your dad have some underlying lung disease that would make an 89% saturation look "normal" even when he isn't acutely sick?

Look, whether someone needs invasive ventilation (meaning a ventilator, yes) or not doesn't depend solely on saturation levels—regardless of whether we're talking about your father or anyone else. It depends on pH levels and other metabolic markers (like BE and HCO3-), the partial pressure of oxygen and CO2 in the arterial blood, lactate levels, mental status, agitation, and respiratory rate.

As for how critical your dad actually is... honestly, I could brew a pot of coffee, look at the grounds left in the filter, and probably get a more useful answer than just being told his saturation is 89% on whatever kind of oxygen he's breathing.

Moderators, please move this to a different thread if one already exists.

Fine, go ahead and brew your coffee then and let me know. Thanks for the help.

Hey everyone,

My dad just ended up in the hospital. He’s fighting COVID-19 along with severe bilateral pneumonia, plus he deals with chronic high blood pressure. He’s been on oxygen in the ICU for about four or five days now, pulling 9–10 liters a day, and his oxygen saturation is sitting at 89%. Since the doctors aren't really giving us much of an update, does anyone here know if he's heading toward a ventilator? How critical is this stage, really? Is there a realistic chance of recovery? His blood pressure is being managed with meds, and for the last few days, things have just stayed stagnant—not getting better, but not getting worse either. I'm looking for some insight. Is he close to needing a ventilator or what?