Perforated duodenal ulcer

[Ineedamiracle]

It's been a month since my elderly dad (83) been in the ICU. He had two surgeries, first one to repair and second one to fix a leak. The first 2 weeks have been really grim with poor prognosis from the ICU Staff. Especially, after the second surgery. Dad look super swollen and he had a tough time breathing. They kept pushing for end of life care (hospice care or morphine drip) to end his suffering. They keep noting because of his age, that he'll won't make it. We almost gave in and considered signing the papers, but one day my dad was less swollen, more alert, start moving his arms. It was slight improvements, but that gave us HOPE. He wants to live, but his body is just slow to recover due to his age.

He was on a ventilator and then got the tracheostomy tube done several days now. It's still hard for him to breathe without the ventilator help. Not able to wean off just yet unfortunately. Suspect it's because of the fluid buildup that's still there.

He's still having fluids that needs to be drain (thoracentesis). This was done twice already and was hoping that'll help with his breathing issues. The Dr noted that his kidney is only at 30% and not pushing out enough urine. Also, his heart is weak with chronic systolic congestive heart failure (CHF): reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) of 20%. Are we crazy as a family to believe that my dad can make it? Need a miracle.

-Just a note, my dad didn't have any heart/low blood pressure issues until after the surgeries.

Has anybody have this type of experience? I have been researching online to get some answers or light of hope, but couldn't find similar stories =(

[Sepsur]

I’m a lot younger than your Dad and I was given zero chance of survival on several occasions during my ICU experience.

I had sepsis & severe ARDS which put such pressure on my respiratory system that it failed which in turn led to heart failure ( my kidneys had been the first to fail) - so there was a sort of cascade of organ failure.

My nervous system was also wrecked - probably a combination of damage caused by chronic muscle waste leading to no protection around the delicate nervous tissue, so when I was moved or turned it got damaged, the affects of being that ill & the affects of the sedatives, antibiotics and paralysing agents. A combination of sensory, autonomic & motor nerve damage meant that all of my systems were running messed up. I had no breathing, heart, kidney, sensory or functional issues prior to ICU - I left alive but seriously messed up. Much of it has repaired over time - this forum is crammed with people who should not have survived but live to tell the tale 💙

[Grant_za]

My mother went thru a 3 Yr period of multiple surgeries, ICU stays etc.At one point she was in an isolation ward for 4 months as a result of a surgical infection.

Despite aggressive efforts, she was in a slow and constant decline. Nursing staff were reporting she was "drifting away".

The lead physician discussed ending medical care and moving to end of life care.

Continued medical intervention would give her about 3 weeks to live, end of life care would give her about 5 days. She was 81.

After discussing with other doctors on her medical team, I decided medical care was to continue.

At that point I brought in additional specialists.

She was discharged to a sub-acute facility 2 weeks later, then after a month there, discharged to go home.

She lived for a further 2 yrs until the family's history of cardiac problems played its part in a fatal cardiac arrest.

Never give up too soon.

[LeopardGecko]

My husband had a lot of fluid in his abdomen (pancreatitis) and was ventilated. He remained on a ventilator for almost 3 months but gradually weaned off it. It did take a long time and there were lots of backward steps along the way.

I can't comment on any of the other bits that you mentioned but hope that you find some answers.