Hi, it's Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM , where we instantly improve the lives of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can have PEACE OF MIND, real power, real control and so that you can influence decision making fast, even if you're not a doctor or a nurse in Intensive
Care!
In last week's BLOG I've shown you "Why the often strictly academic view of the Intensive Care team might hold you back from PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!"
You can check out last week's BLOG by clicking on the link here!
In this week's BLOG I want to give you
The 10 COMMANDMENTS for PEACE OF MIND, control, power and
influence if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
After I have worked with literally thousands of critically ill Patients and their Families in Intensive Care in more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing in three different countries, I have learned many valuable lessons along the way!
One of the many lessons that I learned was that Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care generally speaking have
no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence if their loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care.
In fact, Families of critically ill
Patients in Intensive Care are often so overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated, paralysed by fear, they feel vulnerable and they are really at a loss of what to do and they simply don't know what
questions they need to ask!
Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care don't know how to go from point A to point B
The reality and the fact of the matter is that Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care are lacking a roadmap for how to go from point A to point B.
Point A often means having no PEACE OF MIND, having no control, having no power and having no influence and Point B means having PEACE OF MIND, having control, having power and having influence.
This is even more important if your critically ill loved one is facing one of the most intense and biggest challenges there are in Intensive Care such as
- They are very unstable
and in a very critical condition
- They are in a life threatening situation
- They are in Intensive Care for long-term treatments and long-term stays
- They have a severe(traumatic) head or brain injury
- They are approaching their end of life in Intensive Care
During those challenging, difficult and "ONCE IN A LIFETIME" situations the Intensive Care team often puts their positioning and their actions on
autopilot, because it's just so much easier for them to then deal with those challenging and difficult situations from their end, because the Intensive Care team doesn't often want to invest the emotional energy, the time and the resources to deal with your questions, with your emotions and quite frankly with your insecurities!
I'll give you a blueprint to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!
The truth and the fact of the matter is that if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care, until now there haven't been any blueprints, cheat sheets or shortcuts how you can deal with
this "ONCE IN A LIFETIME" challenge!
Up until now, the Intensive Care team remained in the driver's seat and the Intensive Care team is driving the bus, by driving their agenda forward that you and other Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care generally speaking have no idea about!
The Intensive Care team's agenda is driven from "BEHIND THE SCENES" and decisions about the positioning of your critically ill loved one's diagnosis and prognosis are a direct result of the Intensive Care team's agenda!
Therefore it is more than overdue that Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care can get this crucial guidance, a blueprint, a cheat sheet so to speak so that they can have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!
One of the stepping stones, towards PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care, especially if they are in one of those intense,
dramatic and frustrating challenges where
- They are very unstable and in a very critical condition
- They are in a life threatening situation
- They are in Intensive Care for long-term treatments and long-term stays
- They have a severe(traumatic) head or brain injury
- They are approaching their end of life in Intensive Care
Those are the situations where a blueprint for Families of critically ill Patients is needed and therefore I have created "The 10 commandments for PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care"
Let's therefore get right into it
- Thou shall not be intimidated by the Intensive Care team
Most Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence because they are intimidated by the Intensive Care team's perceived power and by their perceived authority. The good news is that you can let go of it! You can let go of it now!
The Intensive Care team's perceived authority and perceived power is exactly that. It's perceived and therefore it's not even real. Therefore, you can change your perception now and you will see the
Intensive Care team in a different light!
2. Thou shall start becoming difficult and demanding
The reality and the fact of the matter is that Intensive Care teams are so used to getting away with their perceived authority and their perceived power and they are also so used by Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care "sucking up" to them that it's easy for them to continuously drive their agenda!
If you want to achieve anything worthwhile in life you need to look at what everybody else is doing and you've got to do the complete opposite!
If you look what other Families of critically ill Patients are doing then you'll find
that they are nice and the "suck up" to the Intensive Care team. Those Families of critically ill Patients also have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence!
Therefore start becoming difficult and demanding instead, stop "sucking up" to the Intensive Care team, demand more and I bet the Intensive Care team will
notice, because they are not used to it and you will have taken another big step towards PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!
3. Thou shall stop making excuses why you can't have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence
Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care come up with all sorts of excuses why they think that they can't have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!
You need to stop making excuses and you need to start taking charge and control now, period!
4. Thou shall start asking the right questions
Most Families of critically ill Patients
in Intensive Care who have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence ask either no questions, they either ask weak questions or they ask no questions at all!
In order for you to have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence, you need to start asking succinct and difficult questions that directly get to the bottom of the issues you are facing!
The good news is that you have come to the right place here at INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM in order to learn what the right questions are so that you can position yourself
powerfully!
5. Thou shall look "BEHIND THE SCENES" in Intensive Care because that's where all the decisions are being made
The Intensive Care team
has an agenda to drive and their agenda may or may not align with your critically ill loved one's "best interest"! Whatever the Intensive Care team positions as "in the best interest" of
your critically ill loved one is a direct result of what's happening "BEHIND THE SCENES" such as financial pressures, bed pressures and medical research interests to name a
few!
6. Thou shall have your own opinion even if you're not a doctor or a nurse
Once again, the Intensive Care team tends to be quite opinionated and Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence just go with whatever the Intensive Care team
is telling them!
Those Families of critically ill Patients tend to have no opinion on the subject matter! Remember, you are in a "ONCE IN A LIFETIME" situation! You simply can't afford getting this one wrong! You need to have your own opinion about what's happening!
Of course the Intensive Care team would prefer you not having your own opinion because they have to drive their agenda, but that's why it's even more
so important for you that you have your own opinion!
7. Thou shall do your own research
Tying right in with the previous commandment, you need to start doing your own independent research! Thank god you've come to the right place for that!
INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM will give you the blueprint, it'll give you the "BEHIND THE SCENES" insights and it'll give you tips, proven strategies and shortcuts for you to have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!
8. Thou shall follow
your intuition and gut feeling and not get too caught up in "expert opinions" by the Intensive Care team
Many Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence because they get too caught up in the "expert opinion" by the Intensive Care team and they therefore forget one of their deepest sources of wisdom which is their intuition and their gut feeling!
After all it's you and your
Family who knows your critically ill loved one best! You and your Family know deep down how your loved one can deal with adversity and it's you and your Family who know whether your critically ill loved one can beat the odds or not!
Don't neglect that deep source of wisdom! The Intensive Care team's "expert opinion" on the other hand always serves to drive their agenda!
9. Thou shall turn the tables in your favour
The last thing Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care think about is that they can be in a position or situation where they can turn the tables in their
favour!
It's not what the Intensive Care team expects as well. But the reality and the fact of the matter is that if you start asking the right questions, if you don't take "NO" for an answer and if you become "difficult and demanding", the Intensive Care team will notice and as soon as they realize that you have
done your research, as soon as they realize that you are not like 99% of Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who have no PEACE OF MIND, no control, no power and no influence, you will be treated differently and the Intensive Care team knows that they are dealing with a powerful Family!
10. Thou shall display good and powerful body language!
Listen, I bet the minute you have entered the Intensive Care Unit, you and your Family have displayed poor body language, your arms are crossed, your back is hunched, you avoid strong eye contact, you have a weak handshake, in short, your body language screams of your insecurity!
Just by you changing your body language, just by you becoming aware of your body language, just by you starting to manage your body language to a body language that is powerful, secure and says to the outside world: "Yes, I can deal with this challenge and I'm ready to
face whatever this situation is throwing at me, will GET you PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence!
Once again, the Intensive Care team will
notice, your Family will notice and your critically ill loved one will notice if they are conscious!
Change your body language and the things around you will change!
Also, check out our "YOUR QUESTIONS
ANSWERED" section
where I answer all of YOUR questions
http://intensivecarehotline.com/category/questions/
This is another episode of "YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED" and in last week's episode I answered another question from one of our readers and the question last week was "How long does it take to die after removing the breathing machine or life support?"
Youcan check out the answer to last week's question here.
In this week's episode of "YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED" I answer another question from one of our readers and this week's question is
My wife is in Intensive Care VENTILATED with HIGH OXYGEN requirements and with OESOPHAGEAL CANCER, is she going to be OK?
Hi Patrik,
my name is Steve and I live in England in a little town.
First of all what a fabulous website you have, really
helpful!
My wife had an operation for oesophageal cancer, it went well, the surgery was successful, then there was a problem with Pneumonia!
My wife has been in Intensive Care for 5 days now and she's on a ventilator. They did hope to do a Tracheostomy today but weren't able to because her oxygen requirements were
very high she was on oxygen of 70%.
My question for you is, I want to make sense of the machines in front of me, sometimes they get excited when the pulse rate, which was as high as 140 beats per minute when she was first admitted, is down as low as today is 92 beats per minute and I feel that's good. Over time I look at the oxygen levels and it is 94, 95% but then I recognize that she's on 70% of oxygen.
Other times I look at the blood pressure and so my question really is what should I be looking out for, how do I interpret what those numbers mean, any advice you can offer would be really helpful! Thank you!
I do have another question. My wife has been in hospital now for 16 days and she has had no bowel movements. They tried an enema ( in her co motored state) but that did not do the trick. There are also no signs of faeces in the rectum. They are administering a laxative and feeding her through a feeding tube into the duodenum. Will the lactose slowly but surely help move the faeces down?
What thoughts do you have?
Thank you
Hi Steve,
thanks for your question and thanks for your kind words regarding our website!
I'm also sorry to hear that your wife and your Family are having such a terrible time in Intensive Care!
As it relates to your question, you are absolutely correct to say that your wife's heart rate of 140 beats/ minute is very high.
It's nothing unusual that when Patients first get admitted to Intensive
Care, even though they are unconscious, in an induced coma that their heart rates are high. It's a stress response and it could also be a response to a fever, temperature or infection or severe pain. It could also
be a response to fluid depletion, especially after surgery.
Even a heart rate of around 90 is still quite high, but of course better than 140. A normal heart rate would be around 60- 80. As a rule of thumb, any Patient in Intensive Care tends to have a higher heart rate than in a normal situation.
Keep in mind people are out of their comfort zone, they are stressed and they are often in pain as well.
As it relates to the oxygen levels you were referring to, know this:
Oxygen saturation should be above 95%, however as you correctly pointed out, your wife is on 70% oxygen so the Intensive Care team may have adjusted their parameters they want to achieve regarding the oxygen saturation and they may well be happy with levels above 90%.
As the Oxygen levels on the ventilator come down, oxygen saturation goals again, may be adjusted accordingly. Just keep asking.
Blood pressure is another separate parameter and a normal blood pressure is anywhere between 100- 150 on the
upper(systolic) scale and 50-90 on the lower scale(diastolic). In Intensive Care we also often look at the medium or mean blood pressure and the mean blood pressure should be above 65 for a good kidney perfusion.
Also, as far as your question with the bowel movement go know this, 16 days without bowel movement is a very long time, very unusual and it can also be very dangerous!
I believe that with Oesophageal cancer you wife would
have had TPN(Total parenteral nutrition) for a while and therefore there would be a delay in opening bowels. This would also explain that there is no sign of faeces in the rectum.
Starting feeds via the duodenum makes sense and giving laxatives as well, to get the bowels going.
Ask the Intensive Care team why there's no faeces in the rectum, also find out how much feeds your wife is getting, usually in ml/hr.
The most important thing to look out for though, is to find out that there's no Ileus(bowel blockage), again keep asking. This can be diagnosed in a CT of the
abdomen.
I hope this helps Steve and I wish you and your wife all the very best!
Please let me know
if you have any other questions!
Sincerely, your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
If you want your questions answered just hit reply to this email or email me at support@intensivecarehotline.com and I'll answer your questions!
Also keep an
eye out for our upcoming product launch in the next couple of months! We are NOW finalizing our first product that will help Families of critically ill Patients MASTER, take control, have power and influence in all of the most challenging situations in Intensive Care, even if their loved one is dying!
The product will be an "IN-DEPTH" education product for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care and a SHORTCUT for Families to have PEACE OF MIND, control, power& influence! The focus of the education product will be on PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence during the following situations in Intensive Care
- long-term stays in Intensive Care
- end- of- life situations
- Family meetings with the Intensive Care team
- withdrawal of treatment situations and/or perceived medical futility
- severe head and brain injuries
The product will be made available in Ebook, Video and Audio format so that our Customers
can consume the product in their chosen medium!
If you have any
questions about our upcoming products or if you have any suggestions
please let me know at support@intensivecarehotline.com
Your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
Critical Care Nurse
Founder& Editor
WWW.INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM
