Update: mum is early TBI recovery - chest infection fears

[GranolaLover93]

Hey all

Just wanna say how incredibly helpful it’s been to hear everyone’s experiences, and kind words as I navigate this nightmare.

You can read the context about in my previous post. At the moment, my mum has now been in ICU for a week. A week since it happened and completely changed our lives.

She has been EXTREMELY sleepy the last 2 days, at first I thought it was good she’s resting and abit less agitated, but it’s now worrying me. She responds now and again to my voice but I can see she’s struggling to open her eyes as she’s so drowsy. She smiles now and again when she hears my voice and squeezes my hand or tries to touch my face (but her motor skills are very poor at the moment), but she seems less responsive than she was 2 days ago.

She has a chest infection that the doctors are now worried about. In fact, the neurosurgeon came yesterday (I hadn’t met him before) and looked through her chart and said ‘this is worrying, elderly people die of chest infections all the time, I would prepare for the worst’. Obviously I was distraught and inconsolable.

I then asked to speak to her ICU consultant and he came with his registrar and they said yes a chest infection is worrying for her age and state, and that is indeed very sick. But that her oxygen levels are stable and she seems to be responding to the antibiotics.

They said all we can do is wait and see, and if the infection gets worse they’ll have to put her on a ventilator which is when it gets very very risky.

Tired of waking up everyday wondering if she’s going to die or not.

Yesterday she was very upset when she eventually woke, she was banging her head with her hands and trying to hit me and my brother.

Support needed x

ps Thinking of going to a Headway London support group on Tuesday, if anyone has any experience with those?