A fall down the stairs created a week of hell

[shellsmithcat48]

Hello ..on Sunday 13th May my mum fell down the stairs ...a normally sprighy and independent 71 year old...just a terrible accident. Mum was admitted to ICU and was sedated ..CT scan showed large bleed on brain and possible fractured neck (was hard to tell due to brusing) ..Mum was put into an "induced coma" on the Monday (for the life of me I can't remember why" ...on Tuesday they turned the general anaesthetic and sedation off a CT scan result showed the bleed had got slightly bigger ..she did no t wake up ..Wednesday morning she had an MRI scan ..a DR came to see us to tell us mum had a 0.01% chance of waking up ..and that keeping her on the ventilator was like torture for her and she wasn't showing any brain activity..so we were asked to make a choice to turn it off ...my mum would never want to be disabled in any way and due to what the Dr said we agreed to have everything turned off ..Thursday morning mum had everything turned off ..feed, fluids, ventilator and all monitoring equipment ..she was put on End of Life Care and transferred to a ward ...Friday and Saturday she was still breathing by herself ..Sunday I went in to see her ..said hello Mother ..kissed her on the forehead and she woke up ..I couldn't believe it ..so happy. She woke up midday Sunday.no Dr at the hospital came to see her until 5pm Monday..they said it wasn't urgent as she had gotten better by waking up...she has still not had any further scan to see what is going on Inside her head ..they put her on fluids eventually Tuesday and took her off of end of Life Care...she can't lift her arms or legs up properly although can move them..she is acting in a very child like manner ..like she has dementia..on soft foods as her swallow is not very good

I suppose what I'm saying is I feel so angry as nobody (medical staff ) seems to care or be bothered about finding anything out or doing tests and I'm annoyed with myself as don't know what questions to ask.

Any advice please?

[Kirk5w7]

Speak to Headway in the morning you need to fight your mums corner on this, she cant do it for herself.

She will need physiotherapy and input from a neurologist so it is imperative that she has further scans to see what is happening.

You will have to be very strong and stand your ground, the fact that she has come round from what was a very serious condition is proof that she is a very strong woman with a strong will to live with hopefully many years yet in front of her.

Best wishes

Janet x

[cat3]

Ask to speak with the chief medical officer within the hospital. This is a bizarre and disturbing issue which needs bringing to the attention of the hierarchy. As Janet suggests, phone Headway for advice in protocol. The tel.no. is 0808 800 2244 (free calls / office hours). Regards, Cat x

[steve55]

what have the drs actually told you? you need to find out as much as you can.

[Cj-195]

I hope that you mum will be OK. I was surprised when I have a bleeding. So shocked about aftercare.