Relative in ICU

[rab752]

I have a relative in the ICU. He’s an elderly man (91 years old) and has been sedated and intubated for 48 hours now. A liter of fluid was taken off each of his lungs 3 days ago (before the intubation and sedation). He was originally put into the general ward of the hospital a week ago because he was short of breath (had been in AFib). He was moved to ICU because his oxygen saturation levels were low.

He received a cardioversion yesterday, and has been in and out of normal sinus rhythm since. His ventilator has been knocked down from 80 to 40%, and the magic number to get him off the ventilator is 30%.

The doctor said it looks a lot like pulmonary fibrosis. At his age, I know that any type of medical condition should be taken very seriously, and obviously his condition now is very serious because he’s in the ICU, but what should I expect? Will I ever get to talk to him normally again? Will he spend the rest of his life with tubes in him at the ICU?

[BBDEBS]

Hey, sorry I didn’t see this sooner.

How is your relative now?

I can’t imagine an Icu ward can invest a bed for life, but forgive me, are you in America? Some of the lingo sounded more American than British. In which case I believe you all need insurance? If so, then I guess your policy would dictate the treatment length/cost. If not, then if NHS, Icu beds are very highly required and I would be surprised if they would keep someone alive with little prospects of waking?

Having been in a coma, medically induced, it was not a pleasant experience, and the recovery was and still is, 3 years later, hard slog.

Sending you best wishes at this time.

Debs