Staying In A Second Month

   They had discussed it and Leah had decided that she was going to stay in her iron lung for another month. She liked pretending to be a ventilator dependent quadriplegic and wasn't really bothered anymore at how intimate and personal her required care was. She knew that Sara was enjoying caring for her completely if her near nightly masturbation sessions were any indication.

   “I want to…. stay in for another … month,” Leah said as Sara came into her room one morning during the fourth week.

   “Alright,” Sara said, sounding pleased. “I think we are going to have to start an exercise routine since you are beginning to have some muscle atrophy. We will also have to start being careful about bed sores since you are just laying there and can't reposition yourself. I'll order an anti-bedsore mattress for your iron lung. I also think we had better get your iron lung set up on a generator in case of a power outage. I honestly didn't think you'd become dependent on a ventilator so fast. We should also begin using the cough and secretion clearance mode on your cuirass ventilator to keep your lungs and trachea clear since you have lost so much diaphragm function and are becoming more and more dependant on your ventilators to breathe for you. We should start secretion clearance sooner rather than later.”

   Since Leah would need to be sitting upright in her wheelchair to avoid aspirating the results of her cough and secretion clearance, Sara removed her from her iron lung, put on her cuirass shell and did her morning routine on the pulled out bed. Once finished, she used the lift to maneuver Leah into her wheelchair.

   “Okay, let’s get those lungs clear.” Sara said. “First up is secretion clearance.” She touched the button on the pump portion of Leah’s cuirass ventilator. The rhythm of the pump changed and Leah felt the ventilator fill her lungs more than normal, as if she was taking a very deep breath. This was followed by a normal exhale. This pattern continued for a few minutes and then the ventilator buzzed and the cycle returned to normal.

   “And now for the cough.” Sara said. She touched a different button and again the rhythm of the pump changed. Leah felt her lungs fill like normal but then the pump speed up and she felt herself exhale very forcefully. As this continued, she felt the loosened lung secretions begin to move and Sara held a soft cloth to Leah’s face as they were expelled from her nose and mouth. Leah was a bit embarrassed and kind of disgusted at this new experience, but she knew it was now a necessary part of her daily routine.

   The next day an electrician came and installed a generator so that Leah could stay in her iron lung even if they had a power outage, which was good because she was almost certain she couldn’t actually draw enough breath on her own anymore if she had to.

   The next day several exercise devices were delivered and set up along with some floor mats.

   “Normally we will do your exercises after your morning routine but I want to get you started now. We will need to do another manual bowel evacuation now since exercising might work some feces out if your bowels are not completely empty. Since we are getting you out of your iron lung anyway, it will be easier for me to do it with the bed pulled out and you wearing your cuirass shell,” Sara said.

   She attached a longer hose to the cuirass shell so Leah could use her the ventilator mounted on her transfer wheelchair to breathe while being exercised. Sara went through the routine of removing Leah from her iron lung and began doing Leah’s manual bowel evacuation. When Leah’s manual bowel evacuation was complete, Sara set the room up for Leah's exercises. Using the lift, Sara moved Leah to a mat on the floor and began stretching her and massaging her muscles. Leah let her body stay as limp as possible. Leah realized that each movement was squeezing her bladder, pumping urine into her diaper. She grinned, she really did like being incontinent. After thirty minutes or so Sara used the lift to maneuver Leah onto what looked like a combination of Leah's shower chair and a recumbent bicycle. Sara strapped her in with the now familiar straps around her wrists, chest and forehead. She buckled Leah's feet onto the pedals of the bike.

   “This will help you maintain muscle mass in your legs.” Sara said. She turned the machine on and it began to pedal Leah's legs. “We will need to do this for thirty minutes each day.” After a few minutes, Leah got the hang of letting the machine do the work for her; indeed she realized she had been unconsciously pushing at the pedals but her atrophying muscles had quickly tired out. When the thirty minutes were up, Sara transferred Leah to a similar machine for her arms. After thirty minutes in the arm machine Sara used the lift to put Leah back in her iron lung. A flip of the switch and the comforting whoosh relaxed Leah. From then on exercising Leah's muscles was added to the daily routine.

   The next day the new mattress arrived. Sara removed Leah from her iron lung, put the cuirass ventilator on her and and transferred her to the wheelchair so she could install the new mattress. The new anti-bedsore mattress had several sections that an air pump would inflate and deflate randomly to help reduce the pressure on different parts of Leah's inert body. After it was installed, Sara transferred Leah back into her iron lung and turned the mattress pump on. Leah could feel different parts began to inflate, raising her body slightly. Then after a short while they would deflate and others would inflate. It was a strange feeling. It was hard to sleep that first night since her body was being moved randomly, but after several days Leah really didn't even notice anymore.