Possible Anoxic Brain Injury

[Littlem86]

hello, my dad suffered a cardiac arrest which he was down for ~25 min before they brought him back. I know there is possible ABI and he was put on a ventilator and medically induced coma. He has been off sedation since 6:15am (April 12, 2024) and opening his eyes. There is some tracking and he does look when you talk to him. Today as I was leaving he yawned twice while still intubated. My question is…is that a good thing or bad? He still isn’t doing commands or moving limbs, just waking and looking at you. It’s like he knows I am there but at the same time I question if he truly does. He does breathe on his own (they changed to cpap in this time), his heart rate is good, blood pressure is good, and oxygen levels are around 100, also his breaths per min are around 14-18. I just need some insight.

[Rhyl1 Partner Moderator ICUsteps]

I’m sorry to hear about your dad. That he is opening his eyes and taking breaths are positive signs but it is early in his recovery. There is a U.K. charity for cardiac arrest patients and they have information on acquired brain injury on their website suddencardiacarrestuk.org. You need to look after yourself at this stage and try to eat well, get as much rest as you can and find someone you can talk to about how you’re feeling. You are in limbo at the moment, just waiting and it’s easy to forget your own health.

[FamilyHistorian]

I will try and answer the question “does he know”. It’s a very difficult question. I was in a coma for about 2 months following pneumonia, sepsis and my aortic valve being replaced. During that time I was hallucinating (and afterwards) which may have appeared to be communicating. There were a couple of times when they were trying to bring me round that I was aware of my surroundings but in general I wasn’t. But that was me. Others will tell you that they were aware.

But Rhyl1 is quite right, at this time, it is really important that you look after yourself. Once your dad his home he will need you to help with his recovery.

[Sepsur]

I don’t know if I can offer insight to your Dad’s situation but it did take me 11 days to properly come around after being sedated and in a coma for 57 days. They feared a hypoxic injury ( which was neither confirmed nor denied) & I was taken for CT & MRi scans to rule this in or out.

Do I have conginitive dysfunction ? YES- is this as a result of a hypoxic brain injury ? Maybe - but there are plenty of other culprits in the room.

I found this video helpful

youtu.be/g50VsYj90zM?si=loK...(Not working as expected?)

[Littlem86]

no changes—today is day 3 off sedation. We are seeing a lot of muscle spasm and twitches. This is the hardest thing to witness and deal with, I am just so so torn up and heartbroken.

[Littlem86]

just an update: my dad passed April 29 after nearly 3 weeks of the vent. He was tolerating cpap and drs thought he would be able to breathe on his own. We decided to extubate and not do a tracheostomy with hope. He died within 10 minutes of extubation. It’s been hard, I have been struggling and just absolutely devastated.

Thank you for your comments, much appreciated

[Betmed in reply to Littlem86]

I’m in your same boat my dad was off intubation and working well with trech but he caught sepsis for the second time but the hospital didn’t realize it or maybe they did and it turned to sepsis shock and we had to see him slowly pass away

I’m sorry to tell you but the pain is not going away and he passed almost 2 months ago and we cry everyday. We are upset sad and angry that life took him away after he was making a good recovery

[Betmed]

just pray pray and talk to him he can hear you