Hypoxic Brain Injury, 39 year old male

[RifeWife]

Hello. This is my first post. It has been 2 weeks today since my husband suffered a widow maker heart attack. He coded several times and was life flighted to Wake Forest Baptist Medical hospital. He has still not woken up but he is also still on oxycodone and Dilaudid. He also has an infection in his leg due to eschemia and they will be amputating that leg on Monday. His heart has healed fine and he is breathing 100% on his own. He is on ventilator as a backup only and it is set at 40%. He moves some, he responds by tensing up when I touch his legs, and his eyes dialated with light. When they amuptate his leg and get him off the pain meds will his chances at waking up improve?? Any ideas? We have 2 small children and the Doctors here only give worst case scenarios. Thank you

[cat3]

What a horrible time this is for you all. But hopefully, once the drastic removal of your man's ischemic limb is completed and the wound is healed, he'll be in a stronger physical state to cope with his brain injury and the challenges which will face him after returning to consciousness..

He's young enough to meet the challenges that we all face after any type of brain injury and, honestly, 2 weeks is next to nothing in terms of waking time. So please don't panic if you feel his progress is at a standstill................. it's happening hour on hour ; you just can't see his brain re-figuring, and searching for a route back to you and your children.

Talk to him (about everyday stuff & using familiar names) and try to maintain physical contact ; this can be very reassuring and can be a guiding influence to a confused brain.

But be prepared for a long wait ; brains are complex, delicate organs which can't be rushed into responding. And please keep us updated when you can m'dear.

All best wishes for better days to come. Cat x

[Angelia1234]

Patience, persistence, positivity. Im on week 6 since my 47 year old husband was brought out of an induced come. We have 4 kids, 3 still at home. Its so hard but progress will start. Lots of drugs and trauma they have indured. I will pray for your family

[Ecojackie]

I take a 5 mg tab of oxicodone when needed. If you take relatively small doses at different times of the day, you probably won't develop a dependancy. In your husband's case, if he is on it continuously, I don't know what the situation will be when he wakes up. He WILL wake up. I sustained a traumatic Brain Injury in a rollover car accident with brain swelling and bleeding and I was unconscious for a month and finally began coming around with movement of my big toe.

[RifeWife]

Thank you all so much!!! I have to believe he will wake up. Everyone here is so negative and I realize that their policy is to tell me the worst case scenario. They are already suggesting palliative care and I'm like WHAT!!!! It is so overwhelming. Plus he is over an hour away which makes it hard as well. Today the nurses dropped something and it was really loud and his whole body jumped I am really glad that I found this website Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my post

[Angelia1234 in reply to RifeWife]

They started talking to me about hospice and DNR after a few short weeks and 3 days later he started giving me kisses. The hospital staff definately can come across negative. This site saved me and my hope. Keep a log of every change no matter how small because they you can see the progress!!

[hevs90 in reply to RifeWife]

hi my partner suffered from a burst anyersm on 6th April this year and had to be in critical care the docs said to me there is a strong possibility that he would never wake up after coming off all serdation and he did after quite a while longer. he is now on the rehab ward but still doesn't know who we are and where he is,the travel to his hospital is 2 and a half hours there and 2 and a half hours back so I can relate with you for the journey times. I'm here if you wanna vent xx

[All123]

There are good doctors and there are doctors that’s when they see a opportunity to kill they will go for it don’t listen to them they the worst devils in the world trust me the gu fink they are gods give em time my dad recovered eventually lolz they wanted to take the life support machine of then end of life plan we were like be careful who you speaking to were no tom dick n Harry be patient basically your in a position that your backs against the wall you just have to fight for him they gona try taking advantage of your emotions aswell don’t you dare be weak especially in front of them devils go on my profile you can see what we went through hope your well xx

[All123]

And every patient will wake up when they are ready x

[RifeWife]

They told me today that they are taking more of his leg. They are planning to discharge him to can acute care facility and will not be pursuing any rehabilitation as he is unresponsive. We are at 17 days post heart attack. It is a rough day. I just keep praying. Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

[Angelia1234 in reply to RifeWife]

Keep talking to him and loving him, touch him, play music, keep experimenting. Drs say unresponsive cuz they walk in the room every 3 days and say squeeze my hand. Who knows what they say when family isnt around. I wish you the best as im in a similar journey.