Trying to stay positive

[JulieB_]

Hi , I don’t really know where to start. Does anyone have a miracle cardiac arrest story to give me a bit of hope? Thank you in advance. Struggling a bit xx

[Rgsable]

Hi JuliebB

My husband is in the icu for 70 days and he had cardiac arrest twice. He recovered from both of them without any complications. Dont lose hope!

[JulieB_ in reply to Rgsable]

Hi .. that is very encouraging. I appreciate it so much . Thank you xx

[Elizahope88]

Hi JulieB_

My brother had a cardiac arrest caused by trauma to chest cavity after a motorcycle crash. He was stabilised initially but we were told we wouldn’t know extent of any neurological injuries until he woke up. He also had erratic heart rate and signs of pulmonary hypertension. He caught ventilator acquired pneumonia and was 13 very dark days of not very optimistic sounding nurses/doctors until finally his lungs responded to antibiotics and he was able to be weaned off sedation/ventilator (he also finally started obeying commands). On leaving ICU for heart specialist, they found no signs of pulmonary hypertension and all in all his heart now looks fine (I have no idea how this changed from initial prognosis!) Neurologically he is ok too he just can’t remember a few days preceding the accident. It felt like he had such a mountain to climb between heart/lungs/brain and it was so hard to keep the faith every day but he came out of it. I am so sorry you are in this position but as long as they are still with us there really is hope 💛

[JulieB_ in reply to Elizahope88]

Thank you for your post. It’s really encouraging. It’s been very similar.. they are struggling to clear a chest infection. MRI has come back clear but they are struggling with Bobs temperature. He has a cooling coat on and they have sent more bloods off to see if they can ‘grow’ anything. The temperature he has now they don’t believe is from the chest infection. Once the blood tests are back they will decide if they need to MRI again as they don’t seem confident that it’s cause is neurological.

Bob is heavily sedated. They currently have stopped the daily easing to do the pain tests etc.

He is maintaining his own blood pressure and his big heart is showing clear/no damage.

At 8.30 tonight they rang. I panicked but they gave me permission to visit briefly. I think it has helped as I can now place him in his surroundings and understand things like the equipment they talk about. Plus I was able to hold his hand .. at the moment I’m just grateful for that

[Elizahope88 in reply to JulieB_]

My brother had a temperature too, it was a rollercoaster because they kept getting it down and would creep up again. They took cultures too and I think it was 4/5 days after that they gave him more targeted antibiotics, he got dramatically better overnight after that (it got worse in those days before it got better, during those 4/5 days they stopped trying to lower sedation as his oxygen requirements were too high). Hopefully it will be the same turnaround for Bob 🙏 It sounds like a good sign that the MRI is clear and his heart/BP is ok so let those be a comfort to you. Its so good that you got to see him, I’m sure he would have felt your presence and that might make all the difference to his recovery x

[BBDEBS]

Hello lovely.

On Feb 13th 2016, I gave my husband a bit of a shock for valentines, a cardiac arrest.

I was taken to hospital with extremely low oxygen levels, and whilst I was in resus, I crashed. 6 minutes of CPR later, they got me back. My poor husband was in shock when the docs told him to call my family as I woupd not last the night.

I was put in an induced coma for 2 weeks, during which I was eventually diagnosed with H1N1, sepsis, ards, double pneumonia, multiple organ failure, AKI and came as close to death as one would expect.

6 months later I was back at work full time. Too soon for my mental and emotional recovery, but physically, I was driving again, working again, dressing myself, feeding myself, washing myself.

Always have hope my darling, always xx

[JulieB_ in reply to BBDEBS]

Morning my love.. what a time you had! Thank you for taking the time to share with me. You did so well... I feel uplifted reading your story. I hope you continue to do well and think of yourself and your needs. I wasn’t naive in thinking about the other side of recovery but your story has reinforced the importance of taking things slowly.

I was slightly concerned Bob has been sedated so long but I have accepted this may now be ongoing from other people’s experiences.

I woke up more positive than yesterday just from reading others journeys.

Please take good care of yourself and thank you again xx

[Sepsur]

I can’t oblige with a cardiac arrest but I did survive multiple organ failure & my heart needed to be shocked a few times. Don’t give up hope, whilst there is life, there is still hope.

I hope you get better news soon.

[JulieB_]

Thank you for sharing. Any amount of positivity really does help and I hope you are doing well. Thank you xx

[FamilyHistorian]

Hi back in November I was admitted to our local hospital where I had a heart attack and caught pneumonia. I was sent home to await an op to replace my replacement valve. Within a few days I was back in and subsequently rushed to the QE at Birmingham. I was very poorly to say the least and my family were called in and told I wasn’t going to make it. I was operated on before Christmas and then ventilated for 6 to 8 weeks. I came out in the middle of March. I am in recovery now with the support of this group.