After a long haul dealing with covid, being on a vent a total of 3 times, and going septic twice from pneumonia, my dad is finally being moved to rehab today! He still has a ways to go, but he’s getting there. They’ve been standing him up and sitting him up in the bed, we haven’t started walking again yet though. I know everyone is different but for anyone else that has gone through this, how long did this take for you? It seems to take the absolute life out of him to stand up. It’s disheartening but he’s doing good. I’m just thankful he’s still here and with us!!! But did it seem to take you forever to be able to walk again and did it seem to take everything you had to stand at first?
Rehab: After a long haul dealing with covid, being... - ICUsteps
Rehab
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jld85
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28 Replies
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Hi, so pleased you dad is now on the mend. My husband was vented last year in the 1st wave for nearly 6 weeks. He went in a big strong man, and when on recovery he couldn't even lift a cup or hold a knife and fork . They started with rehab straight away and it absolutely drained him, even doing basic task's . It broke me seeing 5 physio's trying to get him to stand all supporting him. After he was medically fit, he moved into a rehab centre on a stretcher as he couldn't stand , 3.5 weeks later he came home with a host of disabled equipment, but was able to walk with a frame. He could walk about 30 steps and gradually built up week by week, he now walks about 15 miles a week . It's been a long journey and he still has bad days as he has several issues due to covid and being vented , but we are lucky and life is so much better than it was last year . He will get there, and it will be painful for all of you, just push to make sure he gets lots of physio, x
It took me a week or so after I’d woken to sit up over the bed - which was horrendous- because my blood pressure plummeted every time I did anything, I felt like I was paralytically drunk - it was also exhausting - beyond exhausting. Talking or listening would send me back to sleep it was so tiring. I stood up maybe 2wks after waking and could walk around the ward within another 2 wks. Another month and I could shuffled around the hospital & do a flight of stairs. I couldn’t crouch, kneel, raise my arms above my shoulders, clench my fists, grip anything. I couldn’t lower myself into the bath ( or get out), I couldn’t lower myself onto a normal loo - I needed a raised seat. I struggled to push myself up off the mattress and could not lie flat on the floor - getting up or getting down onto the floor was impossible. 9 months later I was capable of everything and did my first bit of physical work
Physio physio physio - it’s the only way back to any semblance of normality - I completely agree with @Ferham
After such a long time in icu, he is bound to be weak. My own experience was the physio given when in ICU was too early, and it was not until I was moved to a community hospital and received a more programmed physio, starting with bed exercises, sitting on edge of bed, then being assisted into a chair, and finally standing and walking with a zimmer frame and then a single walking stick. Also I was taken to their gym and practiced going up and down steps, walking between rails. Altogether it took about 6 weeks. But even now after 6 months or so I am not 100% on my feet and still use a walking stick when out. Cant thank the two physios enough at Buckingham community hospital for getting me up on my feet.
jld85• in reply to
Glad you are doing better. Thanks for the reply!
Glad he is finally coming out, you must be so thrilled. In my case (62) when I first came round I could not sit on the side of the bed for more than 20 secs. Standing was impossible. After five weeks with constant effort and support and encouragement from the physios I was allowed home. I could manage maybe six steps and five stairs and was largely mobilising with a Zimmer and a wheelchair. Four months on I can do the stairs up and down in one go and I try to do about 4 to 5 thousand steps a day. No wheelchair, no Zimmer and occasional use of a stick. He will get there 👍
Once I got to the point of standing I couldn’t cope with the instructions from the physios. Once they realised that I wasn’t shirking they let me take control and being able to count my self gave me control. It was still very difficult.
I’m 6’3” and decreasing but I was given a thing called a pulpit to help me stand and walk and that was the best ever.
However 17 months on my balance remains crap.
• in reply toFamilyHistorian
I found the physios in ICU a bit agressive and not very sympathetic to the fact I had just been critically ill for a significant period of time and did not really want to sit in a chair by bed let alone stand up. It was not until I was moved to a community hospital and the 2 physios approached things in a much more programmed way, with bed exercises, sitting on the edge of the bed, standing and sitting in a chair, and then walking with a zimmer frame, and then a stick. 6months on my balance is still an issue so when out I still use a stick.
I know you went through a whole lot!!! So glad you came through!
Hi, Glad you’re Dad has improved! I was in coma and on ECMO basically from feb. 24, 2020 to around May 12th give or take a few. They would sit me up and hoist me vis taco sling to a chair in the room. Went to first rehab May 30th. Therapy didn’t work with me much since I had chest tubes still. They worked on standing with me but couldn’t do it on my own. Went to step down facility closer to home July 27th. I wasn’t able to stand with out help until 3rd week in August and then started walking a few steps on parallel bars. You have to get up to 25 to 50 ft. Before they consider sending you home. I went home September 14th but had 3 men carry me in. It was a struggle for a long time, but w rehab coming to the house, I gained more strength and am doing much better. He should try to do isometric exercises in bed. It helped me get stronger to help me stand and walk. Like squeezing and holding butt cheeks. Good Luck to him and your family !
Hi. I was only in a coma for 12 days (not Covid, my appendix burst causing sepsis throughout my body and pneumonia), however, I was the same, so ridiculously week and had to be supported by a team of people to stand up and take 6 steps. It was exhausting. Please don't be disheartened. Recovery is a very very slow process but with patience, he will get there. Thoughts are with you, and stay positive
All sounds perfectly normal. I was in ICU for 8 weeks, on a ventilator for 3 weeks then a trachiotomy as well as on ECMO.
It definitely felt like forever before I could walk! Getting from bed to a chair made me extremely tired & exhausted. Very frustrating to say the least. Give your dad time, because I'm sure he will feel frustrated at not being independent for a while. I went onto a ward on 9th February 2020, home on 18th March, still unable to walk without the use of crutches. And couldn't do stairs for a good 3 weeks after getting home.
However, 17 months on from leaving icu, I can now walk fairly well albeit slow, I can drive and fo stairs again slowly as my muscles are still weak.
Hope he has a speedy recovery.
Thanks so much, we hope he does too! Glad you’re better!!!
Yes, it took me all my might to pull myself into a standing position and then a feat of balance to stay standing, even while holding on to the equipment. I spent a week building up strength to do this, while also mastering a swivel device to rotate and sit in a seat. I thought it would be months before I could walk again. After the standing device I moved on to a zimmer. For the first few days I could barely manage a few yards before collapsing exhausted. But I improved fairly rapidly and after a week or two I managed a few steps on my own, unsupported. It was then a matter of building strength and about a week later I was walking, hesitantly, around the ward.
I was on a ventilator for four weeks and it was about four or five days after coming off it I was started on the standing device. The entire process is all very variable and depends on many factors, so nothing can be taken as standard, except that it's very hard work.
Best wishes and good luck and strength to your dad.
Oh wow, glad you are well now. Thank you so much!
Hi there, my experience is very similar to others. 4 weeks on vent and woke up extremely weak after being physically fit before getting covid last March. In ICU they had to hoist me out of bed and I couldn’t sit up or hold my head up. It took all of my effort after a few days to even stand up, then eventually walking maybe 4 steps on a zimmer. I spent about a week on the ward and was discharged - I could just about walk up a short set of steps. It was honestly the single biggest challenge of my life.
But we are all different and recovery takes time. It took months of physio at home to get me moving properly and being able to do things independently again.
Couple of things helped me;
Being strong mentally and not giving up. I know that is so much easier to say than it is to do, but take comfort in that you do get stronger.
Focus on the small gains because really for your body these are massive. Spending a few extra minutes sat in a chair, or a couple of extra steps, or lifting a spoon even are all small improvements but collectively make a difference.
It’s OK to be tired. But pace yourself and don’t over do it or you’ll have a set back. Keeping a diary might help - when you’re feeling pretty rubbish it’s good to be able to look back at where you have come from.
Hope this helps you and your Dad.
Lee
Hi
When I woke up I didn’t know what had happened and I assumed I was now well and would be able to carry on normally.
How wrong I was, they tried to get me out of bed but every time I tried I collapsed it took another 3 weeks before I could walk again with a zimmer, but once I was able to do that progress was good.
it is scary but it takes time he will get there
Ron
Unfortunately, what you describe is quite common. Sedation and the whole ICU experience is so confusing, the combination of medication and lack of sleep is horrendous. Although sedated, its medically induced so he will not have got the regenerative sleep that we all need. I spent time in ITU with meningococcal bacterial meningitis, sepsis and pneumonia. The hallucinations can be very weird and upsetting, I was in a temporary psychotic state for around three weeks. Believe me please keep positive at all cost.
Full recovery once home is unfortunately a long haul. I got a lot out of writing about my "journey" afterwards, it really helped. That eventually turned into a book that I published just before Christmas it’s called Eight Seconds of MenB, if you feel inclined, please read it, it will give you an heads up on the sort of thing that may happen. Mostly it’s a sort of diary cataloguing my illness and the first four years of my recovery.
Best of luck to you all
Pete
HiI have been through this.
At first just to stand took all my strength and energy slowly I would walk maybe two or three steps with help and a frame.
It's more than a slow process.
Rehab helped alot.
Home now walking better but with a frame still and oxygen! It's been 6 months.
I wish your dad well. It's a day at a time, good and bad.
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