My mom has been vented since 12/7/20 and in hospital since 11/19/20 due to Covid. On 12/31/20, she got a trach and started to really improve in the right direction. They got her vent down to 40-50% FiO2. Two days after her trach surgery, though she was still on fentanyl and precedex, we were able to face time her and she was able to hear us by nodding her head and was trying to mouth words where we were able to read her lips saying “thank you” to all friends and family praying for her. This is after the nurses telling us she was able to follow some commands like wiggle her toes or nod her head. They moved her to an ltach on1/8/21 so we were very positive she was moving in the right direction. Shortly there after, per the doctor at the ltach they ran cultures at admission and grew bacteria in her blood culture and proceeded to change out all her lines and start her on antibiotics. She unfortunately still developed a severe enough infection that turn into septic shock causing her kidneys to fail and require dialysis and her bp dropping as low as 90/39 at one point. She is not making urine or very little of it. She’s been off propofol (1/13) and precedex (1/14) but has only opened her eyes a few times and moved her mouth. Her pupils react sluggish to light.
Has anyone gone through something similar? Can septic shock cause her to not be able to respond? What does sluggish pupils mean? I am worried of brain injury when her bp was low during the septic shock. Can being on sedation for so long also cause sluggish pupils? Just 1.5 weeks prior she was still on sedation at some level but was more responsive. Any experience or uplifting stories is what we need right now! Thank you!
Joseph
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I went into septic shock after contracting avian flu & double pneumonia. I suffered multiple organ failure, dialysis for 7 wks, numerous occasions where I wasn’t expected to survive the night. I had heart, lung & kidney failure.
I then had severe ARDS and numerous hospital acquired infections. After 57 day coma I woke up. I have very slowly rebuilt my life since then and am currently under going treatment for leukaemia
Thank you for your response, Sepsur. Your journey is quite the inspiration. It’s been only three days since withdrawing all sedation but coupled with the septic shock and kidneys/liver reeling, we are hoping our mom will need more time to truly wake up. I am sorry that you are going thru a diagnosis of leukemia. I am am myself a cancer survivor. Prayers to you for a positive outcome for your treatments.
Sepsur, when you finally woke up did your family tell you, that you just stared blankly at them? My mom is opening her eyes a lot but doesn’t track you or really stare at you. It’s almost like she is looking past you to space. She is also moving her head side to side a lot and will open her eyes when you say her name. Wondering if a blank stare is normal and not a sign of brain damage. They are going to give it more time before they do a scan.
Have a look at a pdf on this link - ICU delirium - it might explain your Mom’s vacant stare. The team feared I had brain damage due to hypoxia & everything but I didn’t have anything beyond the normal cognitive dysfunction associated with ICU. I also had delirium.
Good morning, My husband went through the same thing and I was there to witness it all. Make a long story short, he's been in the hospital since September. He had a lung transplant and had some complications along the way. At one point he spiked a 108.0 fever and coded. He went into septic shock. It took about 2 weeks for him to come to. The first week he would just sit there like a vegetable, staring into space. I was very concerned, as you are.. the doctors told me to just give him time, as his body just went through the unthinkable. I know you probably don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but don't give up!! Medications can interact and cause high fevers. Certain medications can counteract and raise serotonin levels which can cause the nervous system to go into overdrive (serotonin syndrome) I was adamant about having him off all sedation and pain meds. He is doing much better. Best of luck to you and your loved one.
Thank you! The ups and downs are very discouraging and so can negatively from the nurses or doctors. Especially early on they shamed us for fighting for my mom’s life and demand they continue high level of care. Thankfully now they are not pushing us. She is at an ltach and has made progress but took a step back with the septic shock. Hopefully her kidneys and liver bounce back quickly. We need all the prayers we can get for her recovery.
My dad had same exact thing happen to him while in ICU for covid. He was just starting to wean off vent and he went into septic shock with BP at 60/40! He stopped responding completely and they did a Ct Scan and MRI of his brain to e for stroke, loss of oxygen etc. He had no apparent brain injury so the drs said give time. it took my dad almost 3 weeks to even be able to barely open his eyes! He is alive and home now doing very well. Have them do an mri because first step is to assess her for brain injury.
My mom has been able to open her eyes day 2 or 3 after turning off sedation. The weird thing about weaning off sedation, they tried for weeks where they would wean it down slowly and her vitals would spike then they would have to increase back up. Then one day they just stopped it cold turkey with no issues. They did it twice f it at with fentanyl then propofol after weeks of trying.
My mom has been able to open her eyes, coughs, has gag reflex, has opened/closed her mouth, grimaces in pain when moved. This whole virus and situation has been so tough for us and far too many people.
How quickly did they do the ct/mri of you ur dad’s head? I want to push for that too but worried they don’t have those facilities at this ltach and they would have to transport her somewhere to do it. Hopefully that is not the case.
they did both within 2-4 days after he went into shock. push for that because it will tell you if your mon just needs time or if she suffered stroke or any brain injury. important to know that... good luck
Hey Db, when your dad finally woke up did he just have a blank stare and make no eye contact or tracking? My mom is opening her eyes a lot and moving her head side to side and will turn her head to your voice but isn’t really looking at you. It’s more in your direction and staring blankly into space. She can be awoken and open her eyes when you say her name but not when you say mom.
Sadly, I wasnt there when he first woke up and the place he was at was a dump so it took weeks before they were able to Facetime with me but i can tell you based on what they told me he was following simple commands like “stick out your tongue”. He was way too weak to do much else. Did they do brain mri on your mom? my dad had that done and so they knew he didn’t have brain injury...
Not yet. Her trach stoma is a bit unstable right now so they are waiting to replace the trach device for her size stoma but they will soon. She opens her eyes and turns her head to her name but not really following any commands at the moment.
Hi there. Couldn’t believe the similarities here. My mom has been in the hospital since 11/14, on ventilator since 12/14, and trach on 1/3. Same thing.. getting better but not enough. Some doctors have said they think she could have fibrosis, others say no way to know and give it time. She’s on oxycodone, Ativan, and seroquel, and they’re trying to wean down on them. She’s opening her eyes (no eye contact really), moving her mouth, and picking up her arms a lot. Most we have seen her alert since around Christmas. We are now being asked to choose the LtAC to send her to, and I’m terrified. The ones we have nearby aren’t great. I would rather she stay where she is.. Great hospital. Anyways just wanted to share and relate.. praying for you and your mom.. I hope she continues to heal ♥️
Thank you for responding, Mcs. We had a scare last Thursday where my moms bp went really low and hr went up to nearly 200. Her trach dislodged and caused the whole episode. Since she’s really improved and has gone down the lowest on the vent she’s ever been. It will be nearly two weeks since she’s been off sedation and has shown some eye opening and responding to pain. She just hasn’t fully awaken. We are having an important meeting this morning with the whole care team so we are praying we get a good report back and plan of care.
Off all sedation. It’s been two weeks since no iv drip sedation and over a week with no fentanyl patch. But she is on dialysis and went thru septic shock so it is delaying the wake up process I’m sure.
It takes a long time to wake up with covid. As they have been sedated for so long. Mum was the same not responding to command took mri and ct but came all negative. Remain hopeful. We had lots and lots of bad calls as she developed fibrosis. However the last two days she’s making small progress. She’s been on ventilator dune 7 December and still on sedation
It’s the same with my mom. She’s been on vent since Dec 7th and trach Dec 31st. Lots of ups and downs. We thought she would not make the night last Thursday and she did and now she is on 30% FiO2 which is the best she’s ever been. This is also after septic shock and needing dialysis. Her liver is almost back to normal now after her ammonia levels being very high. She also has a pressure ulcer on her tailbone. I am sorry your mom is going thru this, too. It’s very unfair for them to be going thru everything they have.
That’s really good and your mum is on the road to recovery. 30% oxygen is low considering air we breath contains 21% oxygen. The sad part is whenever she is close to have successful weaning she catches an infection and her blood pressure drops dangerously low and she’s to dependent on noradrenaline which the doctors are worried about. However 2 days ago they changed her tracheostomy tube and she’s more comfortable and even has a few minutes where she breaths on her own. She has a speaking tracheostomy now and it was the most beautiful thing hearing her voice. Although since they sedated her again as she got very restless and agitated. What is the doctors plan for your mum? Is she receiving physio? Are they giving her some time to breath alone?
She’s on the intermediate vent settings so they still need to lower the pressure next and let her do more of the breathing on her own. A neurologist came by and did a consult but it was nothing more than what we already knew. They said only a scan will rule out permanent damage to the brain due to hypoxia. Why did they change your mom’s trach tube? They are also changing out my mom’s trach tube today or tomorrow. For my mom, it’s because her stoma is too large and it leaks and the new trach they will install is a special trach that seals the trachea farther down to prevent leaks because the stoma is large.
Mums tracheostomy was definitely to big as she was coughing a lot and uncomfortable. We kept telling the doctors to change it to smaller tube but they said they put camera down and nothing looked unusual. However eventually when they changed it after 3 weeks we saw the change within minutes. The cough has gone down and she’s less agitated. It’s sad they can’t communicate to tell us it’s uncomfortable. From her being static and not much improvement the day she changed her tracheostomy the doctors were a lot more positive and talking rehab rather than her not making it
One of the biggest challenges is her wbc has been elevated in the 15-21 range but today it jumped to 32. They are treating her with antibiotics but her wbc remains high and last cultures didn’t show a smoking gun. She was very agitated this afternoon so they had to start her up on precedex again 😔 I freakin hate this.
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ICU/Covid/PEA Arrest/Coma
Dad is in his 4th week on a ventilator after Septic shock
Brother in ICU with Covid on ventilator
Dad with tracheostomy in ICU covid 
