Septic Shock/ICU 10 days

[amytex]

hi all!  2 weeks ago my father(64 year old) was rushed to the ER while on his Honeymoon in Hawaii.  Turns out it was Septic Shock from the Flu and Strep Pneumonia.  During his 10 days in the ICU ... he was in an induced coma(paralyzed twice), on max heart suppressors for 4 days, continuous dialysis, and incubated.  Finally after his blood pressure began to rebound, we woke him up after 8 days and on day 10 we exubated him!  He moved to a hospital room yesterday.  He knows who we all are, just not himself.   At first he didn't sleep..just stared blankly even with desperate attempts to ask him to rest.  His voice has changed and doesn't say much..sometime has glimmers of his old self and still has some of a sense of humor.. maybe its just the crazy off the wall things he says.  However, he still can't physically move much other than some arm and feet wiggles.  And after 4 days of exubation, they still won't let him eat because of his throat muscles.  Wonder how long it will take him to come back physically and mentally????  I know we must be patient, but just looking for some insight.  Also know we need to get him home to Texas as the hospital is saying they have done all they can.    THANKS ALL!

[dbyeti]

Hi,

So sorry to hear about Your dad and how awful that it happened to him on his honeymoon.

My husband decided it was so much "fun" to have a brain haemorrhage and coma, that he did the same thing again the following year. It means that I have more experience than I ever wanted of the ICU and comas, and also let me see that even in the same person and very similar circumstances, things can develop quite differently.

Obviously every case is different, but it does take quite a while to recover from a stay in ICU and a coma. The first time, the coma lasted many weeks (4 or 5), and it took several days for him to learn to do things again - swallow, walk, hold a pen etc. However, there was a point just a few days after he woke up that he suddenly went from being "weird" and not quite "With it" to suddenly being pretty much back to himself. The second time around, the process of getting back to normal took a lot longer, even though the coma was a lot Shorter, not much more than a week. There was a period that I thought perhaps he will never get back to how he was before. Gradually over days and weeks he learnt to swallow again, walk again - first With a frame and then unaided. However, it took several months before he was really back to himself. Even once he was back home and well enough to og out and socialise, he would be very quite, say very little and didn't have much energy.

Many People are probably telling you to be patient and it's the hardest thing in the world, but it is a long, slow process. the hospital staff probably don't want to commit themselves too much either - I'm sure they've seen People snap back to themselves very quickly after a long coma and others take months to og back to normal after a short stay in ICU.

However, it's never like it is on the Television, where someone Wakes up, starts talking and everything is suddenly back to normal.

The sleeping was a problem for my husband for several months. he was given some STRONG drugs to keep him sedated, and I'm surely it totally destroyed his Natural sleep process for a long time. He also kept his sense of humour, which was good to see, but also sometimes hard to understand when we still weren't sure how much of what we said he actually understood.

Anyway, wishing all the best for you and Your Family. Please look after yourself! This is important and Your dad is going to need Your support for quite a while, but to support him, you have to be in good shape yourself.