Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM where
we instantly improve the lives for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that you can make informed decisions, 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!
This is another episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED“ and in last week’s episode I answered another question from our readers and the question last week was
My 57
year old Dad has been in Intensive Care with Cardiomyopathy and Pneumonia for 5 weeks! He’s still in an induced coma and still doesn’t have a tracheostomy, HELP! (PART 11)
You can check out last week’s episode by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED“, I want to answer the final question from one of our readers and the question this week is
My 57 year old Dad has been in Intensive Care with Cardiomyopathy and Pneumonia
for 5 weeks! He’s still in an induced coma and still doesn’t have a tracheostomy, HELP! (PART 12)
This series of questions from Garry are excerpts from numerous 1:1 phone and email counselling and consulting sessions with me over a two month
period.
Other parts of this series of questions, you can access here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, PART 7, Part 8, PART
9, PART 10 and PART 11.
Garry and his family went through many challenges while his Dad was in Intensive Care and I felt very privileged helping Garry through this difficult time in his and his Dad’s
life!
If you have followed this series of questions, you would have seen that by now, Garry’s Dad’s situation was getting more and more desperate as the ICU was really letting them down from the start.
By the time Garry got my help it was almost too late, because his Dad had been mistreated for too long and the ICU was reluctant to seek outside help and refer him to another ICU where they
would have had all the advanced treatment options available to them. Advanced treatment options would have been ECMO, VAD and/or heart transplant.
Not referring a critically ill Patient from a 3 bed Intensive Care Unit to a more specialized Intensive Care centre is just negligent!
Furthermore, what was evident very early on in this series of questions and consulting sessions with Garry was simply that leaving his Dad in an induced coma and not doing a tracheostomy for 5 weeks was again just another sign that they had no idea what they were doing.
An early tracheostomy and then getting Garry’s Dad out of the induced coma as quickly as possible would have maximized chances also to get a better
outcome.
Related articles/videos:
This story and this series of questions really serves as a warning to anybody who has a loved one in Intensive Care and it really shows that you can’t afford of not doing your research. Not doing your own research when your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care could well prove deadly in fact!
If you are in doubt if your loved one is getting the best possible
treatment that they could possibly have, please send us an email to support@intensivecarehotline.com or simply give us a call on one of the numbers here
Garry writes
Hi Patrik,
my Dad has just passed away.
I’m very very sad.
I just want to thank you very much for all of your help and very kind, encouraging and helpful words of
wisdom and support.
I have been in the hospital today, for what was my Dads final hours. I’m very sad to say that.
While I’m not expecting anything from this email, it’s more so my way of almost documenting what’s happening, so I hope you don’t mind me doing this.
His heart rate was 81bpm and his blood pressure was as low
as 51/25
His ventilator was set to 40% oxygen and I actually was not sure if he was triggering it by himself or not but he was only taking about 17 bpm
He was on 5 of Morphine , 5 of Midazolam, and 4 of Noradrenaline.
He didn’t look jaundiced any more, which is good I guess.
It was a matter of time when I arrived this morning.
Thanks again for everything.
I’ll be in touch!
Garry
Hi Garry,
I’m very sad to hear that your Dad has passed away.
My thoughts are with you.
I would imagine you would have just experienced some of the most difficult weeks in your entire lifetime.
You can be very proud of yourself for having fought such a lonely and uphill battle! You have been very courageous and you were your Dad’s best advocate!
I’m speechless and I don’t know what else I can say for now.
I hope that at least the nurses were able to help you and support you in this dark hour.
I hope that one day you will find meaning and peace in all of this!
I would love to talk to you again when the dust has settled, it would be good if we can debrief.
For now, I wish you all and your family all the strength,
determination and courage to get through this and if there is anything I can help you with please let me know!
