ICU

[Lola12345]

Hi, am new here, a family member has now been at ICU for 9 days. Two weeks ago she felt she was having a heart attack, we found out her heart rate was twice as fast as a normal person. Her blood was too thick so she was given something to thin the blood. She was in hospital for one week, monitored and sent home with heart tablets and given warfarin in the stomach. These became infected & she began to feel very weak and tired, no energy so we called out the doctor and he told us it was not uncommon & given penicillin to take. A few days later it was time for her blood test so we went to the hospital to be told it was not ok for these bruising and swelling to of came up on her stomach like it has. This was a allergic reaction and she was told she would have to stay in hospital. As we got her on a ward she began to feel very weak and dizzy she then went into (what they think was cardiac arrest) To me it looked like she was having a fit. She was then down for 6-8 minutes she was brought back to life and now she is in the ICU. They had her on all different medicines but gradually she has came off them all and is just on a ventilator and a feeding tube. She has been on deep sedation, morphine and a sleeping tablet. The docs say they thought she would be more responsive by now but she is with us, she is smiling at us, blinking her eyes when we ask and reaching her arm to our hand. They have done a brain scan when it first happened and they said it was normal they are currently waiting the results of another brain scan & x-ray. What are the chances of her coming out of this? Will she be brain damaged? Should she be coming round more quickly after a week of deep sedation? Any help would be great. Thank you.

[Barbarajoy]

i cannot medically advise you as i am only a volunteer but i do no its different for everyone, i was given oxygen then a machine then traccy and time just passed me by, never realised how poorly i was and only started to come around and moved to different wards, The biggest problem was being impatient for me and relations but it takes time and patience,It has been over two years since i was in I.C.U. and although i feel so much betteer i couldnt of got through it without relatives and the excellent care from I.C.U. STEPS and special care and help from medical staff in there and my own G.P please keep in contact your story helps others and hope we can help you x

[Offcut]

I was in ICU 32 days and 12 days in an induced Coma. It can take a long time to get back to normal take each day at a time.

[AndJan]

Hello,the fact that your family member is able to respond,by smiling,and reaching out her hand ,sounds good,stay positive,drugs do strange things,she has had a tough time,as you all have,just give it time,and stay positive.

[Lynn2010]

I'm only speaking from experience. I was ventilated for nearly 7 wks. I was awake for several days although i have no memory of it. I could only blink but was non responsive and completely paralysed. They thought i was massively brain damaged due to hypoxia. I had brain scans and a specialist neurosurgeon was called from cambridge i believe. Gradually i was able to move my little finger and then more and more of my body.

I am now reasonably well. I have problems with my short term memory but as far as brain damage that is it. I still have health problems from my original illness.

[Lola12345]

Thankyou everyone

[Jayswife-24]

Bless you it's so scary not knowing what's going to be the outcome when my husband was first woken of sedation he couldn't focus, speak or move so they told me they were going to put him back under sedation and do a ct as they thought he had brain damage the ct showed no swelling or bleeding they woke him again yesterday and after about 8 hours he smiled, cried, moved both arms and gripped my hand they now say they think he's ok don't lose hope everyone is different it's slow and steady... I'm not gonna let doctors scare me any more they always prepare you for the worst

[patchworker in reply to Jayswife-24]

I can understand how very worried you must be, but I hope you are taking care of yourself as well as the children. You're so young to go through all this. I'm sending you a big hug! I hope you get some good news today.

[Lola12345]

Thank you for all your kind replies it has really helped me and my family a lot. Sorry I haven't really had a chance to get back online to give all u kind people a reply. She has now been moved to a HDU ward. Its very noisy and its upsetting her quite a bit. She has had the trach in her neck which kept leaking as her blood was thin they thought and the green speaking valve put in she is talking but is very very confused she wants to go home. asking for a cup of tea. thinking people are stealing from her also the nurse thinks that this is normal on a ward and that it can do that to some people. They are saying if she can tolerate the valve for 24 hours they will remove the tube. She has been touching my mums face a lot looking for a tube up her nose also. She says she wants to cut it off lol. she is fed up & really sad Christmas day was lovely. We spent the whole day around her the nurses where very kind to us, she was dancing in the bed and you could just tell she was so happy to have all of her family around her and even opened presents. Some days she is fine, other days she is really down. She has diabetes and her big toe is going to have to be amputated or it will just fall off. Which is now spreading to another toe.This is very sad for her as all she wears is sandals.. whatever the weather On the 1st night it happened and she was on the ICU I asked the nurse what the little dot was on her toe as i always do her feet and notice changes with her feet. They didn't know and said it was nothing to worry about, this isn't the case now a few days after that i noticed it looked a little like impetigo on her toe they where massaging cream into her toe thinking it was dry skin. Obviously this wasn't the case again. The blood supply wasnt getting to her feet and now this is the cause. She still will have to have heart valve surgery (we think) but they wont carry this out until she is strong enough, she is very stubborn and wont do the things the physio are asking of her but will for us. I suppose this is going to be a long road but until she is home with us where we can look after her, I wont give up hope for her recovery. Thank you so much for your comments and time. Lola x