Husband in hospital for 10 weeks

[Bell1963]

Hi I am looking for hope I suppose , my husband was taken into hospital in January with meningitis.. after 2 weeks we were told he had an infection in his heart valve, after an operation which was successful he has now been in ICU for 6 weeks.... he has a tracheotomy & was coming off it slowly, then got sepsis & pneumonia .. he has now got another infection in his neck & doctors are saying they have given him the strongest antibiotics possible , they say he has liver , kidney failure & is not absorbing his feed. They say he is critical.

He seems delirious sometimes & some days he squeezes our hands& smiles etc, we were called in this weekend as his blood pressure had dropped dramatically, but after 2 day it’s improved again.. it’s like an emotional rollercoaster & mental torture seeing him like this. If anyone has a story of how they have overcome being so ill please can you let me know ... I need some hope x...Thank you.

[Sepsur]

I entered hospital April ‘16 and left in August that year.

I came into A&E with respiratory failure due, my family found out, to Influenza A, Strep A, Double pneumonia & sepsis becoming septic shock & multiple organ failure. Immediately intubated and placed in medically induced coma, Kidney failure led to dialysis for 7 wks. respiratory failure led to ventilator for 8wks followed by trachy for 2/3weeks. Cathetered and on full life support for 8 /10wks. Heart kept on failing too. I overcame all that about week 3. I then became very seriously ill again with severe ARDS and remained fighting for my life for another two months. Along the way I picked up MSSA, VRE & CMV - these are common amongst general public and cause little effect if you are fit and well. I was immune compromised and at death’s door. Upon waking from 2 month coma, I was faced with acute muscle waste, numerous infections, not able to eat, drink, talk, sit, walk, write or crap on my own. I then picked up glandular fever and discovered I had a type of leukaemia.

My family went through hell and back. I cannot imagine how painful it was to be told on numerous occasions that there was no hope AGAIN.

Today 20 months on I am back to normal, mostly.

It’s taken a lot of effort on my part to achieve this, and a lot of patience & understanding from my family. Best wishes moving forward. See if there are any ICUsteps meetings near you and have a look at their critical care guide, on what to anticipate.

icusteps.org

[Bell1963 in reply to Sepsur]

Sepsur Thank you so much this has given me hope knowing that you have recovered from such serious illness , as a relative I feel helpless & heartbroken seeing my beautiful strong husband so weak & vulnerable .... Thank you & good luck with your continued recovery xx

[Sepsur in reply to Bell1963]

Nothing is guaranteed in life, but your husband has fought this long & hard. It is worth considering that ICU units have a 75% success rate. My wife experienced the same as you, pulled from one victory to another defeat. If you think how seriously ill the two Russians have been, 6 wks on, they are coming round- this site is full of miraculous recoveries. Whilst there is still life, there is hope. No one gave up on me, including me.

[Bell1963 in reply to Sepsur]

Yes you are right nothing is guaranteed, speaking to people who have been in the same situation definitely gives me hope .... my husband is a fighter , he fought for his country & he is fighting for us now & I will never give up on him ... thank you again my friend .

[bishopecart in reply to Sepsur]

First I want to say I'm glad that you're doing much much better reading your post has given me so much hope and encouragement as it relates to my mother she's 69 years old and went into renal failure and she's been in ICU for just 5 weeks she's had a couple of setbacks she wasn't expected to live the first week that she went into pulmonary arrest she went into cardiac arrest they did CPR after 9 minutes but mom is still with us and getting stronger every day so I just wanted to say that your post just gave me so much life and encouragement for my mom situation God bless you and continued good health in your life

[Twinbrother in reply to Sepsur]

Thank you! Thank you! And you are a fighter!

You give me hope for my brother

[Luckyone]

Never give up hope as like Sepsur, I went to through what can only be described as to hell and back, what started as a chest infection and a visit to my GP, ended with me being rushed to hospital by ambulance 3 days later so critical with double pneumonia, severe sepsis and later being told had my wife not called the ambulance when she did I would have died, I only remember the short 10min journey to the hospital on 18th December 2010 and then just a world of terrifying nightmares until 6th February 2011, I reality I had been so close to death, intubated for 18 days before having a tracheotomy, blood being taken every 15mins a DNR placed on me on day 3 my wife and family told I was unlikely to make the night, fortunately it was removed the next day, I developed multiple organ failure and was on dialysis for 6 weeks being given 8 units of blood, also severe ARDS causing my left lung and 2/3 on my right lung to go completely solid, I had a mucus plug the size of a golf ball block my airway on day 10 causing respiratory arrest and 2 cardiac arrests for 10mins while the doctor fought to remove it, somehow I survived it all and left ICU on 15th March 2011, my son's 24th birthday and finally left hospital on 30th March 2011 with post ARDS pulmonary fibrosis and 54% lung capacity and almost 4st lighter, 7 years on I'm greatly improved but the ARDS and sepsis has left me with lung and nerve damage that ended my working career but I celebrate my 60th birthday next month with a large party with family and friends.

I hope your husband makes a good recovery and wish you both all the best.

Bill

[Bell1963 in reply to Luckyone]

Thanks for telling me your story Bill it gives me so much hope , I can’t even begin to imagine what you went through , but I know seeing my husband like he is breaks my heart & I feel so helpless, I know he is strong so I am praying he will come through all of this hell .....I hope you have a fantastic birthday party & you have plenty to celebrate, I hope my husband will be celebrating his 60th next year as you will be .

[Burmadean]

Hi Bella.... I know all to well the emotional roller coaster you are on. My step father had a asthma attack two -3 weeks ago which led to pneumonia 3 seizures and cardiac arrest!. The put him in a medically induce coma and had the family make decisions saying if he had one more heart attack his body couldnt take it. His liver and kidneys were failing and they had to freeze his body for a 1 week. It was like asthma had turned into distant contains with all the other possible diseases! He would open his eyes while in yhe coma staring blankly in space...when they tried to take the tracheotomy out he had another seizure. ..my mom is not legally married to him and his mother had placed the DNR on his wrist 2 days after being the coma...All we could do was pray that he would come out of this and his heart rate and everything would be ok because legally it was nothing we could do. WE DIDNT GIVE UP we prayed .... Hes home now after being given up on by his own mom!!! My mom fought and prayed harder! And I'm not sure if you are religious but my father says if u gonna pray DONT WORRY... But if your going to worry DONT EVEN PRAY. You gotta believe. I'm praying in fort worth Texas for u and ur husband hoping u guys make it out of this.