My OH is in hospital in intensive care

cazziebo

RuthnJasper wrote: »

I think JoJo has a good point. Mr. Victory is, despite everything, able to speak coherently - and is recognising that he's not where he is supposed to be and asking why... A small glimmer perhaps - but a glimmer nonetheless...

it's not good or bad. Patients in ICU are kept sedated enough for the body to heal, and not to dislodge any drips/tubes etc, but the aim is always to sedate as little as possible. Patients might regain consciousness and appear lucid but it's not necessarily a sign their condition is improving. And it's not a sign things are worsening. It's just as it is.

It's neither helpful nor fair to Victory to speculate or second guess right now. The medical staff will keep her informed. The best we can do is keep up the encouragement and positive thoughts, not give false hope.

Ettenna

cazziebo wrote: »

it's not good or bad. Patients in ICU are kept sedated enough for the body to heal, and not to dislodge any drips/tubes etc, but the aim is always to sedate as little as possible. Patients might regain consciousness and appear lucid but it's not necessarily a sign their condition is improving. And it's not a sign things are worsening. It's just as it is.

It's neither helpful nor fair to Victory to speculate or second guess right now. The medical staff will keep her informed. The best we can do is keep up the encouragement and positive thoughts, not give false hope.

I agree. Every single person in ICU is different. Some with major injuries may heal quickly with little problem and some with minor injuries may take a long time - there is often no rhyme nor reason. Patients are often put into either an induced coma or a light sedation to allow healing to take place. However, there should be a sedation hold everyday to see how the patient can tolerate being without sedation. The aim is to spend as little time as possible under sedation as there are risks involved and those risks increase as time goes on.

If he is having difficulty breathing, it will be monitored and he may go on breathing assistance until it is improved - whether this is CPAP, BiPAP or full ventilation. Take it one hour at a time, even one minute at a time. My daughter was ventilated for about 5 days then was on CPAP then BiPAP. After about a week and a half she had a tracheostomy as it was clear that she wouldn't be able to clear her secretions herself.

It is good to keep yourself busy in other ways. When my daughter had her accident, I went back to placement after 10 days. People thought I was mad but it kept me busy. If I hadn't had my degree to concentrate on I would have gone insane!

busiscoming2

Thank you for updating us Victory. Thinking of you and your family. Keep Strong. x

RuthnJasper

cazziebo wrote: »

it's not good or bad. Patients in ICU are kept sedated enough for the body to heal, and not to dislodge any drips/tubes etc, but the aim is always to sedate as little as possible. Patients might regain consciousness and appear lucid but it's not necessarily a sign their condition is improving. And it's not a sign things are worsening. It's just as it is.

It's neither helpful nor fair to Victory to speculate or second guess right now. The medical staff will keep her informed. The best we can do is keep up the encouragement and positive thoughts, not give false hope.

Oh, no, I'm really sorry. I've deleted my post, as the very last thing I should ever wish to do would be to unwittingly evoke false hope or be unhelpful.

My sincere apologies.

Victory - sending you every blessing and good wish for a happy outcome. xxx

GeeBee38

Only just seen this, so sorry to hear about your husband victory, how terrible, i don't really know what to say, sending healing and positive thoughts

I am thinking of you all xxx

victory

Good morning, thank you for the good wishes, he is in the best place and the docs know what they are doing.

We had so much information to take in yesterday his dad dealt with quite a bit of it because it was every few minutes, lots of consultants running and shouting whatever, then they took him away for a scan, then they said that his breathing could cause pneumonia, the list goes on.

Eldest gets back, nan tells him about his dad and uses the word pneumonia which makes eldest sob uncontrollably, apparently his work colleague was in on monday, died on tuesday of pneumonia and now it has just hit eldest this is critical and nan says he can't hide behind himself and has to man up. They both cried together for a long while.

As for OH talking, he was saying about hungry hippos attacking him and knives being thrown over his head and an octopus, he is very sedated and out of it.

Today the same I guess, no change so far critical but stable.

I don't seem to retain any information correctly, it changes so fast I can't keep up, they were going to operate now still waiting, it just keeps changing all the time.

In laws so tired now, so so tired

victory

Thank you also to everyone who has sent me PM good wishes messages, it is very much appreciated.

spirit

You are all doing brilliantly Victory. ((hugs))

You probably feel as if you are on a merry go round that never stops at the moment.

Like others have said, make sure you all eat and sleep as well as you can. Continue to accept any offers of help that you can.

:A

tooldle

Thanks for the update Victory.
Something that worked for me when my dad was very unwell, was to keep a little notebook with me. Whenever I spoke to the medical staff, or took a phone call etc, I would write a few lines in the book to summarise the conversation. As you say, the amount of information and the constant changes of direction are overwhelming. I felt by writing things down, I had dealt with it and could put it out of mind for a while until I was ready to read back over the notes and digest the info. We can only keep a small number of things in our short term memory, hence feeling overwhelmed at times like this is very normal.
Sending you a big hug.

System

Sorry to hear of your troubles Victory , I hope your OH gets well soon.

On a practical note the hospital can supply you with a sick note for the employer.

Do you have any loans ,credit cards with insurance ? If so give them a ring and ask for forms to be sent to kick any insurance into action.

The holiday time that's booked can be claimed back so its all noted as sick and once your OH is back at work he can have his holiday time.

Praying for a speedy recovery.