He's a Fighter...

[curlycuz]

Hello, I have a question. My father in law suffered a heart attack (2 weeks ago tomorrow) during this time, he received IMMEDIATE CPR from a police officer until the arrival of the ambulance (10 minutes later) he was taken to a top cardiac facility in London where they discovered one artery was entirely blocked.

They put a stent in place and put him in an artificial coma, his heart took 50 minutes to restart. But once it was started, his vitals stabilised fairly quickly, his BP was good and the bloods taken several hours after his arrival showed improvement. He had a "cold blanket" on him to help reduce the severity of brain injury, but we were given a bleak outcome. He is 55 years of age and fairly fit (ex rugby player, 30 push ups a day, a tiny bit overweight but not excessively ) They told us IF he survived , there was a likelihood of sever brain damage due to the Hypoxia/Anoxia.

Over the course of the next few days we improved slowly. He has a tracheotomy in place and is aspirated regularly due to the pneumonia he contracted.

He began breathing on his own (with top ups from the machine as of last Monday) and his eyes began opening but there was no focus or recognition and no response. Last Tuesday they began rehab but were not hopeful.

Initial CT scan showed no abnormalities and a subsequent CT couldn't pin point any damage. Overall the neurologist said that on a scale of 0-100, my father in law was currently at a 5, and they we could hope for MAYBE a 20 , but that they couldn't predict that he wouldn't achieve higher.

He was given "minimally conscious" status. As of yesterday, the consultants came around and asked him to look at them. He looked at each (moving his head and I believe, his eyes towards them each time) he also squeezed their hand upon request. Reading between the lines, I believe that puts his GCS at an 11.

There has been no verbal response as of yet (perhaps due to the fact that he has a tracheotomy and also was sedated until yesterday due to his heart rate increasing and him becoming distressed each time it was lowered)

I am struggling to understand if this means that the initial prognosis has changed. I know the initial outcome was very bleak. Can I take yesterdays revelations to mean there is more hope? I am struggling to find further information online as to "what happens next" from this point. Any insight would be much appreciated. Thank you so much.

Update: Over the past 3 days, he has been acting more confused, in and out of sleep because he is tired from all the rehab he's been having. He has stood successfully for 5 minutes yesterday and can now support his own weight in a chair. He is not recognising people without an explanation for now and when he has gotten over the initial shock that he has kids and grandkids, five minutes will pass only for him to "disappear" again for a while and you have to start again.

I have explained this to the headway support team. I received a lovely e-mail back explaining about PTA (post traumatic Amnesia) it sounds EXACLY like what he's going through. It says that this will pass, but the longer it goes on, the more likely the brain damage is severe.

We knew there was a chance of this, but so far, he has defied ALL odds and is so strong they need 4-5 people to move him at a time. He keeps getting out of bed and trying to pull his tubes out, which is normal for PTA as I've read.

What I'd love, is any examples who people who have, or who have loved ones who have suffered this type of Hypoxic injury and have recovered. Or are recovering. It would be so nice to hear other people who are a few steps ahead and are still coping and to hear some words of encouragement. We have had nothing but horrible prognosis from the Dr's at every turn. I understand that they need to over their butts, but it's hard to hear and as my father in law has proven, they're not always right!

Thank you for reading!

Curly x

[Hidden]

Hi Curly,

Welcome to the forum where you will find loads of help and support.

Not quite the same thing, but my husband had carbon monoxide poisoning and his brain suffered in a similar way to your father-in-law. For some time, he was unable to function, his brain was stuck in a place about 15 years before; he couldn't do anything for himself, not eat, wash, dress. We were advised to put him in a home and carry on with our lives which we refused to do.

We talked to him as much as possible (trying not to confuse him too much) and as soon as he was able, we started doing simple things with him - just things like snakes and ladders, kids games such as I-spy, helping to lay the table, fold washing etc. It took a while for him to do anything but gradually he began to do a little more and each time we made the things very slightly harder. He never recovered completely but he did go on to hold down a job, live a reasonably normal life and people who did not know him well would not necessarily know that there was anything wrong with him. Now he has got older, more problems are surfacing but he has had a good few years of near normality.

No one can be sure how much your father-in-law's injury will affect him and it is very early days yet, but hopefully you might find, like we did, that he can make the best improvement possible despite the damage and find other ways of coping with any deficiencies he is left with.

Very, very good wishes to you all.

Jan

[curlycuz in reply to Hidden]

Thanks so much for your reply. It means a lot to hear your story and support! Big hugs to you. Today,I am also an exhausted house wife 😍

[CJDA94]

Hi curlycuz,

Great that you have found this forum. Reading what you have written about the background it sounds very similar to my husband apart from we don't know what caused his cardiac arrest (his arteries were fine) but he was in a coma and has a hypoxic (frontal) brain injury.

I won't go into too much detail - but I went from being told by a neurologist that there was no sign of any brain activity really to (after 2 weeks) him being moved from ITU to a cardiac ward. He was there for 6 weeks and this is where he said he had his 'wake up' moment even though we'd been having conversations with him for days before. The OT there was great at rehab exercises for him - she set him tasks to do and we played things like dominoes and took in his ipod with his favourite music. My husband was very physically fit when his heart stopped and so I'm sure this aided his physical rehab as he went from zimmer frame - walking stick within a week and then just kept that for a few weeks due to balance problems. He then went into a neuro rehab facility although by the time the bed was available I think the hospital OT had done such a good job that he was only there a week before coming home.

That was over 2 years ago and although he has short term memory issues, executive dysfunction and suffers with cognitive - other than that you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with him. He is back at work (part time), drives and looks after our daughter.

Don't get me wrong - it was a tough old road - but from where we were to where we are - is amazing. I don't want to suggest that this will happen to your father in law - what I've learnt is that every brain injury is different - but I would certainly keep strong and maintain hope. You asked for examples to give you encouragement and I'm sure our story certainly fits the bill.

Keep in touch with Headway as they have been a great source of support and obviously keep us updated. My fingers are crossed that your father in law will prove his doctors wrong.

Take Care xxx

[curlycuz in reply to CJDA94]

Thank you so much! That's a wonderful example and I'm SO happy that he came back to you and is well. Could you tell me a little more about his wake up period? Did he immediately recognise you? Or was there co fusion? I'm not there a lot at the hospital as we have 3 kids and I've gone back to work full time, but each day I hear of how hard it is for the family because they have to explain who they are all the time etc... sounds like PTA. But I don't think anyone's told them that...

[CJDA94 in reply to curlycuz]

Hi Curlycuz,

I feel for your family having to explain who they are every time. I was very very lucky in that he did always seem to recognise who I was - not necessarily that I was his wife - but that I was someone familiar. This was for the end of the second week in ITU after the sedation was stopped. We had conversations with him that (I thought) were meaningful and did a lot of reminiscing - well I did - he listened (I think). His 'wake up' morning was a few days after he's moved to the cardiac ward and he literally got himself up and took himself into the bathroom (up till then he'd only been up with 2 people for support). I wasn't there but when I visited later - it was literally like he'd 'woken up' and we were starting a new. It was very strange really - but my husband still remembers it so it was clearly significant and its him that described it as his 'wake up'. He has no recollection of his time in ITU at all (I'm guessing thats a good thing). Its stressful enough for the people around let alone being the one in the bed.

If you think of a damaged brain a bit like a broken leg - then it needs rest and time to help it heal and I think its much harder to heal than a broken bone so takes even more time and even more rest. This is just how I decided to think about it but it helped me see that even just a small step (like going from tube feeding to being able to swallow) was really a big thing.

I definitely learnt more about brain injuries form Headway than I did from anyone in the hospital so you are doing a great thing being so proactive about finding stuff out and supporting the family

[curlycuz]

Thank you so much. At moment it difficult because no one seems to want to hear anything I find... I shared that article about this time maybe being pta and my fiancé won't even read or look. He gets upset. I really feel that if dr could just let them know that this is a phase and what it is... that'd be great x