My 74 year old otherwise fit and healthy father suffered a brain heammorrhage 4 weeks ago today. The first two days in ITU post stopping the bleed he was alert, all vital signs(BP etc) were fine but he was living in another world although he knew who we all were. He then deteriorated, got an infection and went from eating and chatting to nothing but the odd grunt and unable to feed himself. Two weeks later the infection cleared he was speaking a little but very aggressive/agitated at times and trying to pull his drains out: so his hands were strapped down to avoid him pulling his head drains out. Then he had a second small bleed apparently unrelated to the first and a series of epileptic seizures and during this he pulled out his drains. They then put him in an induced coma and operated 3 days later (coils to repaire the malformed arteries) and have now stopped the sedatives 2 days ago and we are still waiting for him to awake from the induced coma. Has anyone else been in a similar situation who can advise what may be his next stage? When might he wake up? Will he be less confused soon? He's in France so not sure if they're procedures and can't speak the language to ask prognosis etc but if anyone has similar experiences or advise what we may expect next i would LOVE to hear from you please. Thank you xx
7 Replies
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Hi and welcome to the forum. It is such early days yet. The brain is a very complex organ and anything going wrong with it takes a while to repair. It isn't like a broken leg that everyone can see. I know it is very scary but you just need to wait for things to settle down in his head before you can see how things will be. He will probably never be completely himself, but he will recover lots more than how his is now. Just be with him when you can, talk to him, play music etc. Many people on here who have had the same problem have kept a diary right from the beginning. Then you can see how things improve, remember things you need to check up on and so on.
Lots and lots of best wishes to you, do hope your next post is much more positive when things are starting to improve.
Thank you - it helps to hear from someone who has experience of these things. This past month feels like six months!
Hi moggy, I had a bleed in January and had stents and coils fitted, but was not as bad as your dads and have made quite a good recovery. I am younger than your dad and I work in elderly care and some of what you have described will be due to the infection, they can become very confused and agitated. Surely you can ask for assistance to translate your dads care and prognosis and to answer your questions, will the British embassy not help. I hope you get some help it's hard enough having a loved one poorly without not understanding the language, keep in touch with the site lots of understanding people on here willing to listen and help, good luck and take care xx
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