I just came across your website as I was researching on hypoxia. My name is Victor from Kenya, Africa.
My younger brother (32 yrs old) collapsed(cardiac arrest) on 10th Jan 2020 in Dubai and was rushed to hospital. He has been in ICU since then. We learned that he was out of oxygen for about 20 minutes before the ambulance picked him and the doctors spent about 40 minutes trying to get a pulse from him.
Therefore he got hypoxia(not sure of the severity).
The last 3 days he has shown great improvement and has been off the ventilator for 24 hours now. His consciousness level is still below per but better than before(from 5% to 10%).
I just felt I needed to share with people who understands. I know this is lifechanging and I want to learn as much as I can in terms of after care.
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provicky
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Hello Victor and welcome. It's good to hear your brother is showing signs of progress. Of course significant improvement is invariably a slow process after brain injury of any type, and most of us here have some residual issues.
But positive and surprising things can happen, literally overnight, so stay hopeful and don't be surprised by occasional low points whilst your brother's brain starts figuring out the best available recovery options.
A poorly brain having to fix itself is quite a challenge, but most people here are living proof of its amazing ability !
Thank you for the welcome Cat. I am hopeful to gain information here and wherever I can so as to kinda cope in the good,bad and ugly seasons. Your encouragement is highly appreciated. I will surely keep posting updates along the way.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, the doctors said its gonna be a journey. Actually, the talking has been helpful. His Wife and Dad are there with him and he recognizes them though subtly. He had a voice message from his kids played to him and he teared even though he was not fully concious.
My husband suffered a cardiac arrest 3years ago.He was at work when it happened and don't know how long before he was found and CPR started by workmates.Had to be defibrillatored by ambulance men to restart his heart.Rushed to hospital where he had a stent put in.3weeks in a coma in I CU where we were told to expect the worse.Luckily he had been a very fit 54 year old before and spent 5months in rehab after he came off the ventilator.He has hypoxic brain injury and doesn't remember anything from before his accident.I have up work to be his carer.3years later he is making new memories.Cannot read or write now but his memory for music and bands is very good.One of his nurses when he was in rehab said wasn't sure what they could do for him when first met him but now says he's the best recovered hypoxic brain injury she has worked with.When I look back at my diary from then,I never would have thought we would get to this stage.It's early days for your brother but stay strong.Sending you both hugs and best wishes.x
This is quite encouraging to hear Alb. I am hopeful that he will be better as time goes by. What kind of rehab are we talking about. Is it the same rehab for addicts and whatnot or a special rehab for recovering patients?
Hi so sorry to hear of your brothers health challenges my son was on ventilator and sounds like he was reacting in similar ways. Just so you are aware... People can become quite distressed as they lower the medication to bring him into more conscious state. My son was very disturbed for 24hours which was extremely difficult to see however is quite normal and after that day he started to slowly respond more and more to me. As people have said keep talking and playing anything familiar. It is a challenging journey you are all facing however the changes it has made to our family have been really positive and my son is now home after 6months with rehab so keep trusting and believing your brother can recover.
I will say prayers too. Wishing you all the very best x Ley
Hi Victor. My husband suffered a cardiac arrest at home nearly 3 years ago aged 56 and received CPR for 45mins until they found a pulse. He was put into an induced coma but when the hospital started reducing the medication he started having seizures. He was in a coma for nearly 3 weeks and each day we were told to prepare for the worst. But miracles do happen as he came out of his coma and recognised everyone. He had a lot of memory and cognitive issues to begin with, and had toblearn to walk again, but has come on leaps and bounds since then. He was in hospital for over 3 months but has been home since and continues to make progress, albeit at a very slow pace. He will never get back to where he was but is grateful to be alive enjoying spending time with his grandson who was born whilst he was in hospital, and pottering in the garden, etc. He now suffers epilepsy and will be on lots of meds for life for that and for his heart but can do a lot of things for himself now, independently.
I found this website when he was in a coma and found it to be a great comfort reading other people's stories. I realise that doctors try to prepare you for bad news, but where brain injuries are concerned, I now feel they are really only guessing.
I wish your brother all the best, never give up hope xx
My husband had hypoxic tbi too no pulse till 35-40 mins . Have a look at my posts to give you more insight into first few weeks to months.
To put it bluntly it's a tough road and don't give up . Brain needs to shut down and slowly reboot . Took 5-6 months before my hubby could track us with his eyes . And 8 months before he snapped out of Glasgow scale 3 . He also had a lot of physical issues breathing, seizures , high BP, shakes trauma and + lots more .
But I'm pleased to say he's mentally 99% him ( personality , cognition, higher order thinking skills , humour etc ) and I'm thankful he's back although we are still physically challenged so still very dependent on wheelchair / carers
Just do all the senses therapy ( audio, smell, taste, touch , ) bedside and hel soon wake up when his brain has re routed to come back to you all. Best wishes and prayers for you all.
I thought you might like to hear from a cardiac arrest and hypoxic brain injury survivor. My cardiac arrest was in Sept 2017 and it has been life changing for me and my family. I can't remember the month after it happened at all and I have been told this is probably a good thing. I want to say that for the first two weeks it was touch and go for me, on a life support machine and in a coma. But I only tell you this to show that despite the fact that it may look really bad for your brother now, it does and can get better.
It will be slow and I am still 'recovering' nearly two and a half years afterwards. My brain was without oxygen for 15 minutes so your brother may encounter similar problems that I have had. Try not to look to much into the future, take each day as it comes and be thankful that he is still here.
The love and support of my family and friends has been invaluable and have helped me to regain much of what of could of been lost. Just think you are just at the beginning of his recovery and it will can get so much better. xx
My husband Neil had a cardiac arrest April 2019 he had 40 minutes ‘down time and was shocked 8 times and another 2 in hospitals, as a result had brain injury . He was in a coma 6 weeks most of that on ventilator and peg fed and we were told he would never be able to do anything for himself again and have the conversation with family about turning the machines off. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye
Week 6 to 8 he started to wake and was moved to a private brain injury rehabilitation centre funded by NHS
They were our angels each and everyone of them from the pysios to the Carers cleaners and nurses every single one of them treated us like family laughed with us and cried with us cuddled me when I needed it
Neil was there for 6 months Gradually learning to do everything and I mean absolutely everything from scratch. It has been a real journey with lots of tears along the way but he came home last November able to walk very well able to speak to some extent which has just got better and better every day so he is able to have good conversations with people now. he is able to go to the loo on his own and eat normally.
Since being home we have taught him to read and write from scratch and he can even spell !! He even tied his own shoelaces a couple of weeks ago !
He has dyspraxia now but is learning how to cope with that and had no concept of time at the moment
I have been told the brain can carry on recovering for up to 4 years ... we are only 17 months down the line. So never give up hope
I have been told that Neil would never have recovered to where he is today without my and his family’s support so that is a something that can help ... And so so important. It has been exhausting but I would do evey single day of it again 10 times over if it meant getting him to where he is today
Hi Michele, I'm so pleased your husband is recovering. Was your husband in a natural coma, or sedated?
I am asking because my granda had cardiac arrest 10 days ago and received cpr from people around and then 5 mins later from paramedics and shocked twice.
He has been off sedation for 2/3 days and they are saying he hasn't come round and is brain damaged. You say that your husband took 6-8 weeks to show responses. Did he show any movements or anything in his coma?
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