my dad

hi...I am new here

my dad is 68 and has been in an induced coma for the last 11 days with pneumonia

he said he had man flu went to bed feeling unwell for the weekend, next minute my mum tells me has been taken into a high dependency ward and using a breathing mask, Friday he was moved to ICU in an induced coma and on a Kidney dialysis machine, we have been told that there is a strong chance he will not make it? he has not responded to treatment and we have been told no change for 11 days (which was a comfort day 2,and now day 11 makes me scream) I hold his hand I tell him I love him, I feel so useless, on a positive note the staff have been amazing and a real credit to the NHS....HELP...when does this nightmare end???

[Sepsur]

Hopefully your father will show improvement soon, take heart from the fact that being so ill, he is in the best place.

My family were advised to make sure they ate & rested too because they may have a long haul ahead.

It took me 57 days to properly come to, 11 days after sedation was removed. I can only imagine the awful emotional rollercoaster they travelled as I lay asleep.

ICUsteps do very helpful literature :

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

I’m sure, if you have specific questions, this community will do it’s best to answer.

I hope your Dad wakes soon.

[Hidden in reply to Sepsur]

Thank you....eating and sleeping feel impossible but important. I have given my mother an emergency pay as you go phone for the hospital to contact so she can switch off her own phone as it is constantly bleeping with good luck messages ....i am pleased to hear of your recovery and also feel for your family it is a living nightmare for everyone involved

[Summer568]

Hi

My dad was in an induced coma for the pneumonia and sepsis for just over two weeks and it was a similar story to yours i.e. starting on breathing masks and rapidly declining.

I felt like I had to be there whenever I could driving 100 miles everyday and the constant worry is exhausting. All I would say take every day as it comes, we were told that my daf may not make it. It got to about 5 days in and they put a drain in his lung and 5 litres of fluid came out. From there he started to improve very slowly.

The worst thing for me was the constant setbacks. It was never a trajectory his recovery was up and down (i.e. tried to wake him up from coma but he couldn't cope without the breathing tube in so had to be put under again).

At the time it felt like no one around me really good understood what it was like in the ICU as a relative, but please make the most of the nurses. They truly are amazing and I felt like I interrogated them. They told us to take some photos in of the family and pets and write their names on the photos so they could talk to my dad about things he would be familiar with.

I truly hope your Dad defies all odds and gets better. Remember to make sure you try to eat and sleep too! X