One month ago my 14 years old son was in an accident, he was found conscious and he could speak. On the spot he scored 13 out of 15 on the glascow coma scala. But as the ambulance was on the way he lost consciousness and he stopped breathing until they put the respirator.
When he lost consciousness they immediately decided to fly him with a helicopter to ICU, because it was caused by a ruptured blood vessel. They said he would most likely not make it because of the lack of oxygen and if he did he would have brain damage.
First day: When he got there they immediately did surgery to keep him stable. They put him in induced coma to lower the brain activity and so his brain could heal. He still got meds to reduce the brain swelling, because the induced coma didnt do a big impact. At some point his body temperature started increasing and they had to pack him with ice which helped.
Day 6: the meds didn’t do enough, and he had surgery again to remove a part of the scull so the brain had space to swell without damage. After this his body temperature was low and there was no trouble. He had seizures in his right face but they used medications to control them.
Day 8: They reduced the meds and drugs, to see if he could wake up from natural coma. The doctors said it would not happen because the lack of oxygen for so long.
Day 11: They did EEG it showed his brain was funtioning but not much.
Day 13: He started breathing a bit.
Day 18: His ventilator is set to supplement his breathing when his breathing is too fast or shallow. He still didnt see or react to anything. His pupils didnt react to anything either. The doctor said he would not wake up soon because of the long sedation.
Day 31: He woke up and he started opening his eyes for seconds when they suctioned him.
Day 33: He woke up again for a short period of time and regained his consciousness he sees and heard, basic reactions and reflexes. When hes awake hes upset with the ventilator and tries to take it off.
Day 39: Everytime he wakes up he has panic attacks because he cannot remember what happened to him because of the sedation. He can’t purposely move or speak. He moans and do noices sometimes. Sometimes his heartrate and blood pressure rise, and its difficult for the doctors and nurses to stop giving meds.
Day 42: He does small movements in his hands and arm. And he follows movements with his eyes.
Day 47: Several nurses rushed to his room because he pulled the tubes off, so they tied his hands which makes him more upset.
Day 50: He nodded or shool his head to questions. He followed commands.
Day 51: Hes in rehabilitation. They do speech therapy and physio.
He didnt remember who he was or I was but we got through after tons of stories and showing photoalbums. He observed a lot at first to learn new things like a kid for the first time. He still has trouble remembering names and deals if he dont write them down. Theres still some stages of his life and persons he dont remember.
After three months my son is finally home. He can walk small walks and has to sit when he showers. He has problems with thinking and remembering. He cant focus or concentrate for more than minutes. He seems depressed and gets irritable fast. He suffers from lack of sleep because of the medication to prevent seizures.
He doesnt try to come back to his own life anymore, he doesnt wanna talk or try remembering things with the visual aids. He doesnt wanna improve. He was so happy about going home and play computer games but being on the phone for 15 min was already enough to exhaust him which made him very very upset. I dont know what to do anymore. I dont want to see my son like this what can I do?
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