Sister had cardiac arrest 1/25/21. Cpr started immediately, ems took over 2 minutes later. Not sure what caused it, she couldn't breath suddenly for no reason. Intubated and induced coma 3 days. Each day made progress maintaining temperature, blood pressure, heart in rhythm. Not breathing fully on her own but flaps opening. Can't hold food down. Took off sedation 4 days ago. But not waking up. I tell her to blink and she blinks. One dr. Said her eyes retract, she has gag reaction and her feet moved when scraped. Mri shows inflammation or edma, eeg shows brain activity. They tell us response is reflex. That she will not recover. She also has bad lung infection. We don't know what to think. I mean one dr. said she responds when he talks to her but it is reflex???? How long does it take to wake up? Today her eyes opened, not focused, but yesterday they were not open. So is that not progress? They just want to insist there is no hope for her. I see progress, they are just referring to mri. Everyone is different. Cpr was started immediately when she went down by someone certified so i can't understand how she can have brain damage. I was wondering if the brain inflammation is from lung infection. They insist no and are not really looking into cause. They put her on seizure meds and she is out of icu. She doesn't have seizures. Why meds? Can anyone tell me i am not crazy and there is hope? It is 6 days now. Thank you!
Please answer: Sister had cardiac arrest 1/25/2... - ICUsteps
Please answer
I’m not a medical person and everyone is different so all I can say is that I had a heart op and had various infections and was sedated/ventilated for nearly 2 months. And I guess I’m much older than your system. That was all at the beginning of last year. Recover is slow but progressing.
Thank you! I am glad you are recovering. All the best to you!!
I’m sorry I don’t know enough to offer you any insight into what is happening with your sister. If you are unhappy with any decision- you can ask for a second opinion.
Dear Angech,It is never crazy to hope when it comes to brain injuries. The seizure meds are pretty standard for this type of injury- it is to prevent a seizure from happening which might cause more damage.
Neuro rehab units do tests to explore the difference between reflex responses such as blinking, hand clenches and jumping at loud noise- and processed responses and while it may be too early, it might make you feel more actively involved. But be cautious of possibility that it might be hard if you don’t get a response.
Try speaking or making noise - hand cap or bell ring - from the side - do eyes or head move towards sound. Try passing large brightly coloured object in front of face - do eyes follow it.
Don’t be afraid to ask for explanations of what has been damaged in brain and ask lots of questions.
Good luck
Thank you! Right now she just came out of ccu yesterday onto a regular floor. So at some point i have to ask for her to go to a neuro floor? She is partially breathing on her own but has infection and is on machine. Pardon my typos, small phone and lost my glasses. Hope all is well with you.
My partner had cardiac arrest last June. He Was kept sedated for 2 weeks as he had lung infection and temperature was very unstable. He showed little response on the many attempts to bring him round. So they would sedate him again quickly. Keep asking questions and don’t give up because miracles do happen. 3 months later and a triple bypass under his belt (although not linked we are told) he was back at work! He’s 52 next week and it’s a birthday we honestly didn’t think he would see. Lots of love and thoughts xx
Thank you so much. Did he show any type of brain damage on mri? How long was he without oxygen/heart beat? I didn't see mri report but all drs. Say different things. The dr. Yesterdsy said my sister responded to blinking and tried to wake when they talked to her. They sedated her again because she bites the tube. Looks like a long road ahead. I am wondering if anyones mri ever looked better with time. I hope all is going well for you all, glad things turned around.😀
Hi 🙋🏻♀️ Bob was without oxygen for about 5 minutes we think. I thought he was on floor playing with the dogs 
He was unresponsive when ambulance/dr arrived. Neighbor had conducted CPR no more than 5 minutes after we believe. But long enough. You have probably read stats.. but I got my miracle 
He had an MRI scan which came back clear but later they wanted to re-do it. I don’t believe it was done again though as an angiogram proved underlying issues with his heart although we had been told previously this was clear. You can get scarring on heart after CA. But this showed at least 2 previous heart attacks. Not linked but good to know. We did get different answers from each person we spoke too and this doesn’t help how you cope. I understand that so much . . Especially literally sat at home waiting. Hold onto the positives however small. Things change minute by minute I found, but any positive it a step in the right direction. Xx oh and if you are allowed in.. talk to your sister because Bob says he’s sure he heard me say something I said and later repeated while he was sedated. About Liverpool football club 🙄🥰
Glad Bob did well! I can't understand why sisters mri showd damage, cpr was started by my certified nephew within seconds. I am thinking her brain is swelling from a lung and uti infection. But they say no. Yesterday they told me she was sedated, today the same dr. Said no sedation just tylenol. Yesterday she responded, today nothing. It is awful!
Hopefully now she isn’t sedated you will see some progress and they will know more. It can take a while to ‘come round’ we were told. It is an awful waiting game but she’s in the best hands and been through a lot so there may be ups and downs to come. Think positively, and although I’m not religious.. I’ll include you in my daily prayer which seemed to work for us and helped me feel like I was doing something at such a helpless time . Remember to look after yourself too xx
How things change from one day to the next. Looks like she is not taking any breaths on her own yesterday or today. Dr. Says he stops the machine to see if she gasps and doesn't. Is that normal to do? Then he says he presses on her chest to see if it hurts and no response. Sounds like torture to me because he feels she basically feels nothing. I noticed since he started the seizure medicine she sort of stopped responding as much as she was. I am wondering if that is the cause. I know that med can stop parts of brain that have activity. Also, she urinates but is not moving bowels. He says the part of brain to move bowels is different than urinating part. Her stomach is huge. This is so awful and i feel helpless. Is there anything that can remove water from the brain? My poor sister, my heart is broken.
Hi AngechThere are differing levels of consciousness we may drift between.
The link below will explain them in an easy to understand manner:
msdmanuals.com/professional...
Doctors base opinions like you have had, on both academic education and clinical experience - very often they are accurate and its simply our time to go, but also sometimes we bounce back - as very many on this forum can attest to.
You really need to get 2nd opinion, opinion external to your sister's current environment.
Unfortunately Covid has changed the dynamics of healthcare. In many cities doctors have to conserve resources to focus more on patients who would appear to have a more favorable prognosis. I'm not saying this is the case with your sister, but it's the reason I'm suggesting gaining 2nd opinion external to the current environment.
For the time being, do not allow yourself to be pressurised into making decisions.
When visiting your sister maintain conversations you have recently been having with her. Talk to her giving info on what is going on in the neighborhood - the kind of conversation where she would not be expected to provide answers. Talk to her about the hospital environment she is in, but again keep it light and entertaining. Quite often patients who are not conscious (or responding) may be aware they are in a different physical place, but do not know where or why - constant reminder and positive affirmation can help. Of course this all depends on the person's cognitive ability at the time - but for you, and your sister, simply assume there is some level of cognitive ability.
You're in a difficult and unpleasant space right now. Look after yourself, your health, and try get rest. To fight and continue advocating for your sister, you need to be in good health and form.
As kids we often discard advice from our parents, only to learn later on in life the advice was true and accurate - I was one of those kids. My father used to tell me, "save yourself before you try save others, if you don't save yourself, you will not be able to save anyone else". This rings very true in situations such as yours right now.
Your sister needs you to remain healthy, fit and strong.
Sorry to hear about your sister. I have grandmal epilepsy and when I was hooked up to life support for a week I did not have seizures as there were over twenty eight different meds being pumped through me. My appendix ruptured so I was induced in a coma but all my organs shut down and my lungs collapse. That was in the fall of 2019 and am still recovering after the one month in the hospital. your sister may be on meds for epilepsy because they help relax the body when in critical state. If your sister suffered from a mini stroke while in cardiac arrest that may be one reason why she is slow getting back her movements. AS far as food goes is she on a liquid diet as I could not eat any solid food for another month and lost a lot of weight 89 pounds of bones. I was very weak and when I came to it was still a number of days before I could move. I saw faces but could not respond everyday got a little better . If there is no brain damage I can not see why they would say she will not recover? Stay positive and maybe tell your sister some stories to help jog her memory and touching is good like massage her feet and hands. Lots of prayers for her recovery. Hope this helped abit.
Wow! Glad you recovering, you went through alot! She had cardiac arrest. Even though cpr was started immediately they say she has water on brain and damage or swelling all over. They give her no hope. The eeg showed activity but now the seizure med probably calmed that. Be well! Thank you!
My prayers and best wishes for you and your famjly. Don't give up for sure. I believe very strongly in miracles after my experience. Again keep in close contact with your sister and talk to her even if she does not seem to be responding.
Thank you! 😃
Really upset with the hospital! 4 days after cardiac arrest, 2 days after they took her off sedation they called pallative care because she didn't wake up. It is 10 days now and they want to push her out to nursing home. They keep writing in her chart there is no response, meanwhile all the specialists note a response. Today the surgeon came to check her because next week a feeding tube and trech. He said she won't need sedation because she don't feel nothing. I told him she does feel when they give her needles etc. So he checked her and she moved and responded. He said he was surprised because her chart sounded really bad. Why are these drs. Doing this? Is it because they get more $ for covid patients? Seems like they are pushing her out and leaving her for brain dead. They say all her movements are reflexes. She takes some breaths on her own but mostly machine right now. Where would they possibly send her? This is a critical care 1 hospital in NY. Also, they said they did mri but her outside dr. Says no they couldn't have because she is intubated. Anyone else get mri while intubated?
Today they put a feeding tube and trech. I think they are looking to send her to a long term place. Did everyone else get pushed out of the hospital two weeks after cardiac arrest? Did you have to find a neuro rehab also? I am not sure what to do. She is responding to pain and moves around, she just hasn't waken up yet. I hear the seizure meds can slow you down a bit. Can someone please tell me what i should do next to help her? What type of facility does she need at this point? Thank you!
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