2nd post.. worried still as there is no improvement post 45 days Meningitis..

[grandchild]

My gran is back to the general ward and shifted to my hometown hospital. She was initally 4 weeks in ICU and later shifted to general ward. She is opening her eyes only when she feels any pain that is purposely given to her like bending her legs or giving her a pat on thighs. Other than that she is not even opening her eyes in any mean. She is not able recogonise when she opens her eyes and not able to listen too like I say a command to do but she is not responding. When physiotherapy is done on the operated leg she is getting sense and opening her eyes and then goes back to sleep again. I am so worried on this. Could any one say why all this happens or have anyone faced such scenario?

[Saxruth]

Although every case is different and I don't know when your Gran will improve I can tell you some of things we did to help my husband.

We showed him old photos even when he was only awake for a few minutes in the start of his recovery. He could not hear anything for the first few weeks so we wrote small messages for him to help reassure him as he was confused and scared about what was wrong with him and where he was.

Basically we tried anything to help stimulate his brain and reassure him even when we were not sure if he could take anything in. We also played favourite music.

Meningitis is a form of brain injury which can take a long time to recover from. Your Gran may well also be under considerable sedation which also causes lack of awareness and confusion.

Hope this might help you a bit not to lose hope.

[grandchild in reply to Saxruth]

Thank you so much Saxruth. So patience is a major solution. Hope your husband has recovered. I have few questions

1) what kind of food should be given in this course of meningitis? Any idea on that.

2) My gran is opening her eyes only when she is treated with physiotherapy and remaining time she is back to sleep. Is this common effect of BM or is this kind of COMA?

3) She sneezes, coughs, swallows her saliva and sometimes she shakes her legs so is this a good sign of improving or what is the sign of improving implies ?

4) And last sorry, how many months did it take your betterhalf to recover and utter the first word, this gives me confidence and can make some belief in her please.😢

[Saxruth in reply to grandchild]

Hi again

I am not really in a position to give you answers to some of these questions as every case is different but I would encourage you to ask the doctors and nurses who are caring for your Gran about what these signs mean.

As far as eating is concerned that was a problem we faced for several weeks. My husband had been fed through a nose tube for several weeks and was very reluctant to eat on his own after that. He was given "Ensure" drinks to make sure he was getting nutrients and calories. We then brought in small amounts of foods he particularly liked to tempt him to start eating again. It probably took about 4 months till he was eating normally .

With general recovery he started to speak about a week after emerging from his coma. He had to learn virtually everything again including walking, reading, writing etc but after a slow first few weeks the progress improved dramatically. One year on he is pretty well back to normal with just issues of tiredness and some memory loss.

I think he has been very lucky to have made such a good recovery particularly given how ill he was at the start and we were prepared by the doctors to expect the worst.

I would say don't give up hope but do ask her medical carers for information.

[grandchild]

Thankyou so much and is it advisable to consult a neurologist on this and brain factor ? because this all happened when my gran underwent knee surgery and later she affected by severe headache and was in full sleep for 2 days. Only then we asked the doctor to look at it to check what happened. it took 3 days to discover this and only then they started to treat her with antibiotics.

[sdjohnson231]

I would definitely get a neurologist involved, if one is not already! Also, have a tv or radio on at all times for "noise", so that her subconscious is hearing things. Continue to talk to her as much as possible. I was just unconscious for 7 days, but I believe I knew family was there with me, although my brain failed to record or remember it. Sing to her, carry on conversations in her presence. Keep us posted.