My Dad is not waking up Fully After Brain surgery... - ICUsteps

ICUsteps

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My Dad is not waking up Fully After Brain surgery, catching pneumonia and went thru sepsis shock.

Pinktumbleweed profile image
5 Replies

My Dad is a 5 year Glio surviver (Brain Tumor) He was Flight lifted to UC Davis in Sacramento Ca. as his Tumor was back and needed surgery. His surgery went well and he could see and said he felt great! 2 days later he started looking bad and asked my mom if he was dieing, next day I get a phone call from hospital telling me my Dad is in Respiratory distress and need to ventilate

after ventilated that night the next day went into Septic Shock and was sent to ICU hooked up to all kinds of Machines and Pressor's ,low blood pressure ect. They worked very hard on him & he made it thru. He was sent down to Neurology ICU. He has been there for 3 weeks and not improving much.Now he caught bacterial infection and is on a strong antibiotic. He does wiggle his toes and squeezes my hand.(real hard) I ask questions he gives me yes & no answers with toes. They put a shunt in his head they said it was draining extra fluid.(but not on inflammation Meds) they ended up taking ventilator out putting in trec. He can't open eyes barely. I dnt think he can't see anymore.I asked him If he couldn't see and he wiggled his toes. I feel hes being tortured. will he wake up or am I just not letting go!? he was a very exhausted before surgery as he suffers from insomnia. I think it may be some Med he s on. they have him on no sedating drugs as of 2 weeks

any thoughts?

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Pinktumbleweed
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5 Replies
Sepsur profile image
Sepsur

Hi @Pinktumbleweed

I hope your father improves soon, his body has been through unbelievable trauma.

Waking up in ICU after septic shock and all the various treatment I had, left me utterly exhausted. Muscle waste contributed to the weakness & exhaustion, which is not uncommon. I took 11 days to come round properly - even then I was confused and uncertain of what was reality.

If your Dad has any renal issues ( which again are common with MOF & sepsis) the sedatives will take a long time to leave his system. The pandemic has also caused worldwide shortages in preferential ( less side effects) sedatives, so ICU teams are having to resort to older generation paralysing agents which, in turn, result in patients often taking longer to wake.

Copse77 profile image
Copse77

Please don’t give up. You are right to hang in and your Dad is communicating with you in the best way he can at the minute. I support what Sepsur said. My brother became critically ill and had sepsis from flu and his lungs were not functioning. He was suffering ICU delerium and it took a full month before he became properly conscious. Remain hopeful is the best advice we were given by one kind ICU consultant when my brothers kidneys and other organs were not functioning.

Dbilingual79 profile image
Dbilingual79

My dad went into septic shock while on ventilator for Covid last year. The sepsis caused him to take a lot of extra time to wake up … like almost a month - but he did and he pulled through all of that! Dont give up. Sepsis is big hit to your body and it really leaves you incredibly tired amd weak. Let him have the time to rest and heal . Im sure he will come thru this:)

Ren2985 profile image
Ren2985

My dad was ventilated for about a month and alsoHad septic shock, a another infection. It took a toll on his body and he lost a tremendous amount of weight. He’s made it through it all, and he’s slowly gaining his strength each day. It’s a long road ahead, but don’t give up, thinks will be slow, but the little progressions will seem like such huge wins. All the best!

Greatestdaughter profile image
Greatestdaughter

My dad went through similar situation as yours. Never give up! Be strong, be his advocate, ask tons of questions to the doctors and nurses!

Always talk to your dad and encourage him, be his voice!

I lost my dad on feb 1 this year and I miss him so much.

Pray and I will be praying for you both. 🙏🏻

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