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!
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 PARTNER IS IN INTENSIVE CARE ON A VENTILATOR! THE INTENSIVE CARE TEAM
WANTS TO DO A TRACHEOSTOMY AND I WANT TO HAVE HIM EXTUBATED! WHAT DO I DO? (PART 7)
You can check out the answer to last week’s question by clicking on the link here.
In this week’s episode of “YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED” I want to answer another question from one of our readers and the question this week is from one of our readers who I have consulted in the past and her question this week
is
MY PARTNER IS IN INTENSIVE CARE ON A VENTILATOR! THE INTENSIVE CARE TEAM WANTS TO DO A TRACHEOSTOMY AND I WANT TO HAVE HIM EXTUBATED! WHAT DO I DO? (PART8)
Heather writes
Hi Patrik,
my partner’s tracheostomy is now closed up. We had almost a month long stay in a long term acute care hospital. He was weaned from the ventilator and the tracheostomy got decanulated.
He also received physiotherapy. He has been hospitalized so long that he could barely move his lower extremities.
On March 3rd he left Ltac and he was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility where he received 3 hours of Physiotherapy every single day. He got to come home on March 17th.
He came home with a walker and a wheel chair and we are starting outpatient rehab
on April 7th. On March 26 he woke up and he had a low temperature 100.9 F(~38.2C). I helped him sit up to give him his meds and I could hear him wheezing. I called an ambulance because I thought it would be to hard to get him in and out of the car.
His oxygen was at 60 percent. Needless to say he had pneumonia again. They put him on a BIPAP machine in the Emergency Room and sent him back to ICU. He handled the BIPAP machine like a champ.
I went home that evening and when I came back the first thing next morning the BIPAP was off and he was on oxygen and moved to a ward. He had pneumonia and his diabetes was uncomfortable and his kidneys acted up
again. He is doing much better now and even walking better we think we'll be able to go home and try it again on Monday.
I want you to know that finding you Patrik helped me to save my partners life. If I hadn't been in the Intensive Care by his side asking questions and doing my own research, then that one doctor may have been able to convince my partners parents to pull the tube and give
up.
His mother believes you help your loved one more by staying out of the way and letting them do their job. I fear that so many families have lost loved ones because they took this approach and gave up to soon.
I had never seen the inside of an ICU until December and I have had the opportunity and misfortune
to have seen the inside of four different ICUs and I know I couldn't have survived this if I hadn't found you.
Recommended:
I realize that when I came to you I was opposed to getting the tracheostomy and with your advice I made them listen and I know I probably delayed his recovery with that since he did have to have the tracheostomy after all and it wasn't as bad as I
thought.
I do have a great respect for the ICU team, most of them. I don't think it should have to be so hard to communicate with them though. These men and women have a tough job and the family's they are dealing with are very often in a once in a lifetime event so they are scared, lost, and confused. Knowing all of that doesn't change things though.
I had to step away and collect my thoughts so that I could communicate with them. I was a weak emotional wreck at first and that made the nurses even nastier. I knew that he very well could die and I decided that if he did die that I was not going to have any regrets. I wasn't going to be at his funeral and have anything going through my head about things I should have questioned or details I left out.
It was tough these people are intimidating but they are only people. When I got the feedback from you and the courage to become more demanding and difficult, such good things started happening.
I didn't really find that they were big jerks. I found out these are very special people that just forget that they not only have an obligation to their patient but to the Patients family
as well.
Once I stopped allowing them to treat me as if I were invisible, I gained their respect and they gained mine. I know that got long Thank you so much for being here. I am so very grateful that I found your website and that I signed up for 1:1 consulting and had direct access to you, so that we had time on Skype, over the phone and that you answered my emails. I have told other families I have come across about your website.
Thank you,
Heather
Hi Heather,
thank you so much Heather for your extremely valuable and detailed feedback, insights and for your kind words.
I am very glad to hear that your
partner is finally turning the corner. This is a huge success story and as you and I know, life is extremely precious and it's something that I am hugely aware of after more than 15 years as an Intensive care nurse.
I knew that when you first contacted me that you needed help. And as you've correctly pointed out, having a loved one critically ill in Intensive Care is a "ONCE IN A LIFETIME" situation and most families in
Intensive Care don't take the time to do their own research and they don't seek out for help and advice.
You have been there and you know how important it is to get educated quickly about this complex area that is Intensive Care.
You are also correct to point out that Intensive Care teams have a difficult job
and that most of them are very special people.
What families in Intensive care don't know though, is that there are too many moving parts and wheels in motion in Intensive Care that families simply don't know anything about. The stuff that's happening "BEHIND THE SCENES" in Intensive Care such as the politics, the bad management issues, the hierarchy, the power play etc… almost always have a huge impact into how the Intensive Care teams frames or positions your loved one's prognosis
and diagnosis.
Recommended:
THE 10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ARE HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES IN INTENSIVE CARE THAT HOLD YOU BACK FROM HAVING PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE, WHILST YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE!
Furthermore, Intensive Care teams are like "fish in water" and families in Intensive Care on the other hand are like "fish out of water". That
means that Intensive Care teams often forget that as you, once again, correctly pointed out, need to communicate better and appropriately with families who are completely outside of their comfort zone.
I do believe that empowering families in Intensive care is what I and INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM stands for and as you know it has a positive impact.
You also should take the time to reflect and also celebrate this massive success story of getting your partner out of Intensive Care alive!
You have also shown to have incredible resilience and incredible strength, as once again, you were so far outside of your comfort zone when you first contacted me that it most likely was an
absolute nightmare for you.
I want to thank you once again for being a Client and also for taking the time for giving me your feedback in such great detail!
Families in Intensive Care need to support each other and your experience, your resilience and your strength are an amazing example for other families of how to
overcome extreme adversity.
Your authenticity by having lived through such a massive challenge is setting an extremely positive example for other families in Intensive Care!
I also want to thank you for recommending INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM to other families in Intensive Care.
Take care
Patrik
Get ONE on ONE consulting with Patrik via Skype, over the phone or email(click on the link)
Skype ID patrik.hutzel
phone 415- 915-0090 in the USA/Canada
phone 03- 8658 2138 in Australia/ New Zealand
phone 0118 324 3018 in the UK/Ireland
If you have a question you need answered, just hit reply to this email or send it to me at support@intensivecarehotline.com
Or if you want to be featured on our PODCAST with your story, just email me at support@intensivecarehotline.com
PS
our cutting edge new information PRODUCT has been released, (CLICK ON THE LINK)
“THE FAST LANE
FOR PEACE OF MIND, CONTROL, POWER AND INFLUENCE WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS CRITICALLY ILL IN INTENSIVE CARE!”
You can check it out other EBook, Video and Audio recording products here
http://intensivecarehotline.com/products/
We also offer ONE on ONE consulting via Skype or over the phone, where you can get direct access to me!
All our information PRODUCTS are helping 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!
Our information products are 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 (click on the links)
Our information
products are available in Ebook, Video or audio recordings so that you can access the information in your chosen medium.
Whether you prefer to read, watch or listen, it's all there for you!
Our Ebooks, Videos and Audio recordings are solutions to the biggest and most challenging areas in Intensive Care for Families of critically ill Patients!
Our information PRODUCTS are a shortcut to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence for Families of critically ill Patients in
Intensive Care!
If you have any questions about our information products or if you have any
suggestions
please let me know at support@intensivecarehotline.com or you can contact me on Skype. My Skype ID
is patrik.hutzel
phone 415-915-0090 in the USA/Canada 
phone 03 8658 2138 in Australia/ New Zealand 
phone 0118 324 3018 in the UK/ Ireland 
Phone now on Skype at patrik.hutzel
Your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
Critical Care Nurse
Founder& Editor
WWW.INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM