Mother in ICU for bacterial pneumonia.

[Gfill]

Hello

I'm writing a post in the hope to find someone who has been through a similar experience. My mother who is in her late 40s was treated for pnuemacoccal pnuemonia in the ICU and has been given several courses of antibiotics. She also suffered with sepsis and kidney failure. So she was put on dialysis and taken off it after a few days as her blood was less acidic. She has been woken up from sedation over a week now and is just starting to become less confused. However she is still spiking temperatures of up to 39 and it does come down with paracetamol but it's been happening for a few days now. Could it be a secondary infection? Or the pnuemonia not clearing up? Does it normally take this long for a bacterial infection to go away? (2 weeks so far)

The hospital are taking bloods every day but we seem to be in the dark with their findings plus it takes the microbiologist a few days for the results.

She's on a new antibiotic and today is day 3, am I right in thinking if it's going to work it will kick in by now?

She also isn't getting adequate oxygen saturation on the nasal cannula. So they keep putting her back and forth on the mask and then trying the nose one again.

Is this something that corrects itself? Will she be able to get adequate saturation on her own without support some day? I've been reading about hypoxia and worrying that is what she is suffering with.

I'm just so worried about her and want her home as soon as possible. I never knew how horrid a virus could be and shes been ill for so long. She seems ok in herself and not overly poorly.

She's eating a bit but drinking loads of fluids. Coughing up lots of horrible brown gunk from her lungs.

Thank you for reading my post! I'm just looking for some support and hopefully some reassurance that these things take time to fully go away/heal.

[Sepsur]

hi @Gfill

I entered hospital with influenza A, strep A, double pneumonia, septic shock & multiple organ failure. I was put in an induced coma for two months. I was intubated, put on dialysis for 7 weeks & given little chance of survival.

I managed to fight off sepsis only to succumb to severe ARDS. I was proned 3 times, prayed for, packed in ice. I picked up MSSA, VRE, CMV & glandular fever, the problem of being immune compromised. I woke up hooked to every conceivable machine, had trachy and realised I was unable to communicate in any meaningful way. Muscle waste meant I could hardly move. I started twiddling my feet and lifting my ankles, wrists & knees. I eventually managed to sit over bed, then sit in chair, learned to walk again, eat & drink. Eventually I climbed a flight of stairs and returned home.

Loads of physio & emotional support from staff, friends & family helped me back to normal.

Rehabilitation is slow but sure. It takes 10/14 days to recover from each day on ICU( depending on age & initial fitness).

ICUsteps do a useful guide to illustrate what to expect.

icusteps.org/assets/files/I...

Best wishes for future

[Gfill in reply to Sepsur]

I never did get round to replying to you to thank you for taking the time to respond to me!

Thank you 😊