How to best help my dad with his recovery after rehab?

[mso94]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. My dad's been in the hospital due to Covid-19 since March 28. He's 57 years old.

Here's a quick timeline of events:

- Dad was intubated on March 30th. From March 30 - April 10, he had ups and downs on the vent settings.

- April 10: Dad suffered a septic episode. Docs originally said it was due to a bacterial infection but they did not find any culture growth in his bloodstream. My theory is it was viral sepsis due to the covid. Dad suffered kidney and liver damage.

- April 12 - 22: Dad's kidney and liver damage completely reversed without need for dialysis (so thankful for this!). Dad was slowly weaned off sedation and began to show signs of responsiveness

April 22nd-April 30th: Dad's oxygen requirements began to lessen (40% FIO2, PEEP of 5, pressure support ventilation). Dad got a trach and peg on April 30th. (2.5 weeks ago)

April 30th - present: Dad has improved a lot over these 2.5 weeks. He came off the ventilator on May 8. He is currently on 28% FIO2 through a trach collar.

His nurses allow us to talk to him through video call, (he uses a speaking valve with his trach) his short and long term memories seem completely intact, and he is aware of his surroundings and is calm and lucid. He was stepped down to a lower ward (CDU). He works with Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. Today, speech therapy gave him some ice to see if he can swallow it. He did swallow it and everything was fine, and was telling us about it proudly.

He seems a little "off" still, which I think is a normal part of recovery. He doesn't smile much, but he does cracks jokes here and there. He barely blinks, and it seems he's looking off in the distance instead of looking at us. He's still very weak physically, and is going to be moved to a rehab center this week to get his strength back. He has regained his forearm movement and can move his legs, but usually doesn't unless the nurses ask him to.

I'm wondering how his recovery will look moving forward. My main question is -- when he comes back, I want to dedicate as much time as I can over the next 6 months - 1 year, and just help him get back to his baseline. I'm just confused on where to start. I'm thinking of taking a nutrition class to figure out how I can help him with his nutritional needs. Does anyone have any tips on how I can make sure his recovery goes as smoothly as possible, and help to encourage him and make sure he doesn't feel sad/lonely/disheartened etc? Any tips would be so, so appreciated.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my dad's story.

[BBDEBS]

Go onto icu steps online, find your local group and make contact. One or two are doing zoom calls but hopefully we will be back to regular meetings soon.

Sepsur can this lady contact your group for advice this week?

Stick with us on here, we will help you along the way x

[Sepsur]

Hi mso94

At the moment the page dedicated to support groups on the icusteps.org website is reading that this service is currently unavailable. This is not entirely true. Some of the meetings have become zoom meetings. At present and we hold a weekly Zoom meeting. Our group is icustepschester.org

So our mission is to help people regain as much of their past life as is possible, for some this may mean a few little inconveniences, for others, critical care may have left them with more debilitating incapacity. That is not to say that one doesn’t continue to improve with the right support, motivation & mental attitude.

The drop-in meetings gives more than just emotional support & answers to questions, it also offers someone the opportunity to discover that their experience is normal, no-one wants to feel like a freak. A lot of us have lost social skills too, the group enables us to engage with people again. Critical illness is isolating at the best of times. The outside world can become fatigued by our on going issues. People in the group are supportative of each other.

We have exercise sessions on line specifically for people leaving hospital after a stay in ICU.

We have a dietary supplement that explains what is best to eat to rebuild body muscle and when is it best to eat.

Please have a look at our information page for lots of useful documents

icustepschester.org/informa...

[Stayloose]

As posted above. Consider the qualities you already possess; love, patience, kindness, ability to see, and affirm little improvements, to be proactive on his behalf when necessary, knowing when to back off, knowing how to seek support for him and also for yourself etc. These may be more helpful that training for specialised knowledge I think.

[PeterJu]

Hi. Glad To hear that your dad is recovering. I was on a ventilator, but did not have the sepsis or kidney issues your father had. I’ve now been home four weeks. Whilst I’ve had no support from my GP, I have obtained a number of really good really reliable health resources for recovery. If you email me at [e-mail] I will reply to you with the various documents. Good luck to you both. Thanks Peter

[DrARDS in reply to PeterJu]

Glad to hear you are home and didn’t require too much ventilation-we are 7 weeks and still going with my Dad.

I’ve not thought too far ahead yet, but worry that rehab is going to be so hard for all Covid patients, as what would have been standard care is now consigned to history, amidst all this social distancing, PPE and limited primary care services.

[Sepsur in reply to DrARDS]

Yes I agree - but we are highly adaptable & willing to put in place new solutions to combat new problems - we already have two exercise sessions on line which will become a weekly zoom exercise group specifically for those coming out of hospital and not being able to attend usual physio clinics. We also know how important emotional support is for recovery.

icustepschester.org/exercis...