Cardiac Arrest leading to induced coma. Eyes open but no response and moves head lots.

[Silkysilk12]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted some advice.

My father is 63 and had a cardiac arrest on the 21/01/21. It took several moments to revive him and get a heart beat. He was taken to hospital and was said to be able to follow verbal command in morning. He was able to breath for 45minutes but struggled thereafter and was put into an induced coma. Eeg suggested some seizure activity but CT scans have come back clear.

My father was on the ventilator for two weeks and a decision was reached for him to have a tracheotomy.

My father has had the tracheotomy for two weeks and has been weaned of sedation for two weeks. Whilst he opens his eyes, he has not responded to verbal commands. Also he constantly moves his head left and right.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am ever so worried and scared.

I would be grateful to hear the experiences of others.

[Dabofoppo]

He might be experiencing delirium the drugs they use to sedate you are very very strong coupled with the trauma he's been through he may be experiencing a very different reality to you and I. Delirium includes auditory and visual hallucinations which are almost impossible for the person affected to tell the difference between them and real life. It does pass but can leave you very confused about what happened. I hope he's fine and recovers soon

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Dabofoppo]

Thank you ever so much for responding x

[Sepsur]

It can take a little time for a patient to come round. It took me 11 days and I experienced terrible delirium

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Sepsur]

Thank you for responding. I am hoping that you are fully recovered x

[FamilyHistorian]

I’m 72, back in Nov / Dec ‘19 I had a heart attack, pneumonia, sepsis and a replacement aortic valve. I was sedated / ventilated for just under 2 months. I also had a trachy. It took me ages to come round. I also had delirium. Quite a traumatic time for every one.

I came out of hospital mid March ‘20 and still on the road to recovery

[Silkysilk12 in reply to FamilyHistorian]

Thank you so much for responding. I wish you excellent health x

[Therehastobehope]

I’m sorry I have nothing to add but I am in a very similar situation as yourself. My lovely mum had a cardiac arrest on 14-2-21, such an horrendous time. My mum also opens her eyes but doesn’t focus on anything. Sending lots of love, I know what you’re going through. Stay strong!

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Therehastobehope]

Thank you for sharing. I am sorry to hear about your mum. I am hoping that your mum has a speedy recovery. Please take care of your self x

[Therehastobehope]

I was just wondering how your dad is getting on?x

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Therehastobehope]

Hello Therehastobehope, I spoke to the doctor several days ago and he feels that there is little hope of dad recovering.

Yesterday dad managed with a deflated cuff for 6 hours and the plan is to remove the tracheostomy as dad has a good cough. They also stopped the seizure medication yesterday to see how dad gets on and I am hoping that he starts responding in due course as we are on day 45 of dad being in hospital and day 26 of stopping sedation, howeverI do understand that the meds that dad has been on have sedative affects.

The doctors are unsure why dad is not responding to command and what the head movement from side to side means but they think it’s involuntary and possible discomfort. Although dad has not responded to command, I think he can hear us. When I visited him for the first time last week, there were two points where he seemed like he recognised me and understood what I said.

Whilst there seems to be some progress from the perspective of the nurses, the doctors seem quite negative. Dr have queried about DNR and not offering treatment if dad were to get an infection but we have said no as we want dad to be given every chance.

I am just holding on to hope that dad will regain full consciousness as the CT scan and EEG scan results at the end of Jan were clear. Also dad was able to breath by himself and follow command when he first woke up in hospital (around 6 hours after having the cardiac arrests). This was before he was sedated as he had seizures.

They are pushing for a hospital move as the current hospital specialises in heart treatments and there are no concerns about dad’s heart. I am just so worried about the type of ward dad will be in but perhaps it’s for the best as dad has lost quite a bit of weight at the current hospital from 67kg to 52kg.

How are you and your mother?

[Therehastobehope in reply to Silkysilk12]

Oh it’s just so awful isn’t it, I really do understand! I had a similar conversation with the consultant yesterday, his words were ‘your mum IS going to die’. When I questioned this and asked him for his professional opinion as to how long we have left with her he said he couldn't possibly say and that on some rare occasions people do make recoveries🤯

Honestly at my wits end. My mum is very much the same as your dad but she doesn’t move her head but her ct scan shows damage to her brain stem and that’s why they are so convinced she won’t make it.

She is coughing but not as much as we would like but she is swallowing a lot which seems to be quite a new development! I’m pretty sure she knows we are there (we have compassionate grounds to visit as they don’t think she will make it) and we put the radio on for her and sit and chat. We also get other family members to call her mobile and just chat away. She opens her eyes quite a lot now but doesn’t focus on anything. I’m just willing them on to make some progress so that the doctors will stop writing them off!

Sending lots of love x

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Therehastobehope]

Oh I wish I could give you a hug.

Lets cling on to every bit of progress and pray for the best. A nurse told me yesterday that some people don’t even swallow, cough or open their eyes and that gave me so much hope.

Please take care of yourself. I will pray for you and your mum XX

[Therehastobehope in reply to Silkysilk12]

Thankyou, I really could do with a hug right now. This whole experience is like no other isn’t it!

That does give hope! I do find that some of the nurses cheer on the little wins that my mother has and I do suspect they see some people make a good recovery!

My apologies, I have just edited my reply as my grammar was so bad. I have two small children constantly climbing on me🤣 xx

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Therehastobehope]

It is such an awful time and I pray that we don’t have to go through this again. Never did I imagine that 2021 would start like this but I hope it gets better for us all. The pandemic has not helped and I look forward to a sense of normality.

Don’t worry about your gramma, mine isn’t all that either. I have one little one she has been driving me insane as she waits for me to ring the hospital to scream the house down so I can’t imagine two x

[Sepsur in reply to Therehastobehope]

Hi @Therehastobehope & @Silkysilk12 - I hope you both get more promising news, I’m sorry to say that historically, not many sensible decisions are made over the weekend and the doctors can be very negative at times. It is such a fine balance to instil hope but not make false promises. The point is anything can happen - yes this site has numerous examples of people who have clung on to life for weeks only to run out of possible recovery but there are also numerous examples of people that the docs didn’t have a hope in hell of surviving and we did.

[Silkysilk12 in reply to Sepsur]

That is very true. Thank you all for your messages. It’s good to hear different experiences of ICU. have learnt so much from reading information on this website x

[Therehastobehope in reply to Sepsur]

Thankyou for your reply. Reading your story you really are a story of hope and that’s all we can look for right now x

[Silkysilk12]

Hello everyone, just to update and to seek some advice. I was allowed to visit again today and heard dad speaking for the first time with a valve. I was overjoyed but left the hospital feeling disappointed and frustrated.

Dad seemed very confused and wasn’t following any verbal command but I suspect that it’s the epilepsy drugs which was only stopped three days ago. Dad mentioned feeling uncomfortable multiple times whilst seeming to reach for the feeding tube in his nose as well as the tracheostomy.

The doctor plans to remove the trachestomy tomorrow as dad has a strong cough. The plan is then for him to be moved to a ward until he is transferred to a local hospital near home. I asked about the level of care in the ward and whether suction would be offered given the level of secretion he has which may cause him to choke and place him at risk of infection. The doctor did not seem to want to answer my question and then went on to say that dad is in a vegetative state with little chance of recovery. This was albeit to me pointing out that he is speaking although very slurred.

Today is the first time they have put in the valve and I highly believe that they have overlooked that dad is not fluent in English and therefore they perceive him to be grunting instead of communicating. They have noted DNR on his file, is this something that the family can challenge as he is not in a vegetative state and I have made it clear to them that the family is not in agreement.

They said that they are not considering treatment if he deteriorates or has a heart attack. Can they make this decision? I feel that he needs to be given more time in light of him now speaking and the fact that they have stopped the epilepsy drugs.

Please do let me know your thoughts.

Much appreciated xx