though I am not familiar with Pneumonia, I have stayed in intensive care for some while (also sedated) here in Amsterdam. I hope you are soon able to see an improvement: stay strong and positive, he will pull through. Many families in Intensive Care who ask this question What are the chances of survival for a person in an induced coma? also ask this question because they often feel the pressure from the Intensive Care team to agree to a withdrawal of treatment and/or to NFR (Not for resuscitation) or DNR (Do not resuscitate) orders. How to STOP being INTIMIDATED by the Intensive Care team and how you will be SEEN as EQUALS. Doctor usually prescribes prednisone and within 3 days she beats the pneumonia. But by all means thank you all so much for responding xxxxx. Terms. If we were to believe what film and television tell us, then emerging from a coma is kind of like waking from a long deep sleep, right? . WHAT DO I DO? Ice dancer Roman Kostomarov, 46, was admitted to hospital on January 10 with an advanced cold, which was assumed to be Covid-19. In my case, it was a medically induced coma. He's in the best place getting the best care and it sounds really positive. No, not really. A medically induced coma is precisely what it says on the tin a form of anesthesia that can put you under when your injuries are bad enough to necessitate such an extreme maneuver. I am a member of the Realwheels Acting Academy in Vancouver, BC, run a Facebook page called 'A Day in the Life of a PWD', and create comics about the giggles and gripes about living with disability. HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO HAVE PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE! As a rule of thumb, anybody who is requiring mechanical ventilation and a breathing tube will also require an induced coma. Ventilators keep oxygen going . It's now 5 years on for me, unfortunately my lungs suffered from the ARDS, so I was unable to return to work, but I have not let it stop me helping others through my work with ICUsteps. We all know what it looks like when someone comes out of a coma, right? 7 days ago we had to call an ambulance for my wife, Ally. THE INTENSIVE CARE TEAM WANTS TO DO A TRACHEOSTOMY AND I WANT TO HAVE HIM EXTUBATED! The study also found that patients took longer to recover consciousness the more they experienced episodes of low blood oxygen levels during treatment. I was awake, but in an unresponsive vegetative state, and it seemed my body was losing the battle to survive. Today he has been in a coma for a week. His oxygen sats were always low, and he had a tracheostomy tube for many weeks.The ICU team couldn't understand why his lungs were having such problems. I did not die. Jeanna Giese, the world's only . Will he be PERMANENTLY DISABLED. Keep doing great work! I will always be thankful for your services.". My wife was warned that I would not be the man I was and that I would always need oxygen. WHAT IS AN INDUCED COMA AND WHY IS MY CRITICALLY ILL LOVED ONE IN AN INDUCED COMA? I am struggling because I want time with my father before it is too late. They also believe that they are the only ones who know whats in the best interest for your critically ill loved one! I know it's step by step and the waiting is torturing me. Best wishes be strong. Luckly he overcame all that stuff. show them your love and support - even just sitting and holding their hand or stroking their skin can be a great comfort Research has also suggested that stimulating the main senses - touch, hearing, vision and smell - could potentially help a person recover from a coma. 5 POWERFUL THINGS YOU NEED TO DO IF THE INTENSIVE CARE TEAM IS NEGATIVE WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE! It all started with pneumonia. Olympic champion, two-time world champion in figure skating Roman Kostomarov. You get to that all important feeling of making informed decisions, get PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE when you download yourFREE INSTANT IMPACT report NOW by entering your email below! Depending on how long the coma lasts and the severity of injury to the brain, emerging from a coma may take days or weeks, and an individual may go through stages of consciousness before they are responsive. Yet he was sad and shetted tears every now and then. Take good care of yourself. It was really hard and although my father didn't recover as much as we hoped, you helped us to accept it and still gave us hope, that there is still some little chance that he will recover a bit more. I admire your dedication to your fathers health, it reminds me of my own daughter who was just 20 when I was in ICU, she would always pick up on the positives. Anyway, I guess far from never waking up.. Getting your advice was a Godsend.. So stay positive, look after your own health and don't do an internet search on your dad's condition as it can be so misleading, but do ask the medical staff about any concerns you have and don't forget your dad is in the best possible place. It will give his lungs the ability to rest and heal, as well as give his lungs more oxygen and more pressure so that the lungs can deal with the Pneumonia, It will give his body a rest and he has more time to deal with this severe critical illness. I think they tried every drug in the cupboard even brand new experimental drugs, at a cost that must have exceeded 250,000 which makes me so grateful for the wonderful NHS we have in this country, I often wonder if we had a different system would they have unplugged me and switched the machines off. You also helped me know the process of what they would do for my critically ill loved one. At one point, one of his lungs was collapsed, and the other was partially collapsed. Claassen published a study in 2019 that found that 15% of unresponsive patients showed brain activity in response to verbal commands. I just found out that my father who suffered an accident at work years ago that lead to MRSA and a leg amputation, and who was recently diagnosed and in remission for throat cancer has contracted pneumonia. (PART 10), CASE STUDY: My 77 year old Dad has been in ICU ventilated for a week and hes not waking up! I feel very worried due to my dad's condition. =( Again thank you for sharing your stories. I sorry to hear your dad has now developed ARDS, although it sounds very scary it can be treated, so stay positive your dad is fit & a non smoker which is very positive for him, when I developed ARDS I already had complications of pneumonia but also severe sepsis on top causing MOF and on dialysis. How do you feel Intensive Care teams are going in providing a positive, nurturing and patient environment when you feel pressured from day one to agree to pull the plug? I am just so worried that all of this may be too much for him to handle esp after just getting off of chemo and burying his girlfriend to now being on life support. CAN I TAKE MY LOVED ONE HOME ON A VENTILATOR TO DIE? My husband was in the coma and on life support for almost 3 months. From your description of what helps you (talking to him), you might want to start a intensive care diary, keeping track of what is happening around him and also putting your thoughts into words. Check if you have pneumonia Symptoms of pneumonia can start suddenly or gradually over a few days. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A coma rarely lasts beyond two to four weeks. He may want to see and share the diary with you when he recovers. The content on Healthgrades does not provide medical advice. Thank you, Debooorah. The eyes may regain movement first before other voluntary responses slowly appear. Never give up believing that he will be fine. Why Is it Important to Get Access to My Moms Medical Records in ICU? Drug trial to treat newly discovered targets in COVID-19 pneumonia As a result of the detailed analysis, researchers identified critical targets to treat severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and lessen its damage. These drugs have a continuous effect on a patient, keeping them in a sustained state of unconsciousness that is necessary for healing to begin. This is another great question and its a question that we get quite frequently from families in Intensive Care. By reducing the electrical activity in the brain and slowing down the brain's metabolism, an induced coma can minimize the swelling and inflammation of the brain. Patients therefore have to be sedated with medications to put them to sleep so that they can tolerate the mechanical ventilation and the breathing tube. My thought are with you at this traumatic time and hope your father is soon on that road to a good recovery. (Many people do not, or they emerge with impairments in cognitive function and/or verbal ability.) He now has got a long road of recovery ahead. Hand on my heart you are definitely one in a million that's for sure and I do owe you.Thank you so much Patrik for your genuine support and guidance so far. Patrik is brilliant, prepared, knowledgeable and experienced. It has been reduced to 55%. Yes, here in Belgium we luckely have a great health system as well. I hope all of you are well after your long recovery xxx, My partner was just 44 when she contracted pneumonia in both lungs. This content is not available in your current region. This is very long overdue, but I just wanted to take a quick minute to say thank you. I had multi-organ failure, and my family had to cope with me being unable to. Your advice proved to be gold dust. Why decision making in Intensive Care GOES WAY BEYOND your critically ill loved ones DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS! Quick Tip for Families in ICU! Get hand-picked resources and highlights from our Mighty community straight to your inbox. It would be so unfair. Thank you all so much for all these kind words. I was placed in a medically induced coma but failed to respond. Deboorah - thank you so much for sharing, I'm exactly 7 days into the process with my Dad who is 62. If you buy into the negativity of the Intensive Care team you are doomed and you will fall into the category of 99% of the families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who make no informed decisions, who have no peace of mind, no control, no power and no influence. My 57 year old Dad has been in Intensive Care with Cardiomyopathy and Pneumonia for 5 weeks! Doctors removed dead tissue from one of Kostomarov's legs during the . If you are using antibiotics, continue to take the medicine until it is all gone. I will be chatting with you shortly! I don't think he will make it. Make sure you also check out ourblog section for more tips and strategies or send me an email to[emailprotected]with your questions! The following steps can help you prevent spreading the infection to others around you. though sometimes complications still happen. An unfortunate and consistent trend has emerged in recent months: 98% of COVID-19 patients on . Deborah, we are going through something similar. His condition was so serious that he was put into a medically induced coma. I had pneumonia with a very large. Talk with your healthcare provider about when you can return to your normal activities. In her most recent update, Elder Fish's mother said his latest surgery had gone well. I had almost 2 months completely missing from my 3 months in ICU, thankfully my wife kept a diary of that missing time, keeping a record of not just what was happening to me but also who visited, what daily life was like for the family and some of her own personal thoughts, so many times she would think thing were improving, only to find the next day I had got worse again, it was a real roller coaster ride for all the family. Risks and Side Effects There are some risks associated with medically induced comas. The Olympic champion is conscious, he is constantly injected with sedatives. I am so afraid his lungs are allready very damaged but I hope the best. When you talk to Your dad, be reassuring, tell him how well he's doing (this was sometimes hard, on the days when most of my husband's vital signs were going in the WRONG direction) and assume he can hear and understand what you're saying. Sedation was stopped and he opened his eyes for the first time. We really appreciated your help and couldnt have done it without you! ", "I just wanted to thank you for all the advice and support that you provided to me as it relates to my mom. Do not give up! I tell him what day it is , who's there to visit him, to stay calm and fight because I know he is capable. I will pray for your father and your family. Oops! They slowly open their eyes, and a loved one calls for a nurse. I write stories about my life as a person with a disability as a way of processing my experiences, and in the hope that others who share similar experiences feel validated, supported, and a little less alone. Hire. StrokeA lack of or interrupted blood flow to the brain. Well done to you for standing up for your dad, unfortunately some doctors can be very negative, I had a DNR placed on me 3 days into my time in ICU, my wife, son & daughter-in-law were taken into a small room and told they would not resuscitate me if I went into arrest that night as I was so critically ill, when asked what my chances of survival were, they were told less than 10%, fortunately it was removed the next day when the head consultant told my wife there had been a "miracle" in the night and I was well enough to be moved for a CT scan. That's pure madness and I will not give up on him ever! She was battling pneumonia but went down hill fast. My dad is 70 and 3 days ago just come out of a week long induced coma. It can last, on average, for several days to several weeks, and sometimes months or years. The service that you provide is invaluable. They truly help! You are a true legend hero and inspiration to mankind Patrik!