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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 explained “How long does it take for my critically ill loved one to be taken off the ventilator and have their breathing tube/ endotracheal tube removed?” You can read, listen or watch the update here.
In this week’s episode of “your questions answered” I want to answer another very important and frequently asked question of our readers at INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and the question and the topic that I want to shed some light on this week is
“The 5 things you need to know if your critically ill loved one is in Intensive Care with a severe head injury or a traumatic brain injury”
One of the very hot topics for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care is head injuries and/or traumatic brain injuries.
If your loved one has been admitted to Intensive Care with severe head injuries or a traumatic brain injury after a motor vehicle accident, after a severe fall or after a fight etc… chances are that you are out of your comfort zone, that you feel vulnerable, shocked, frightened, scared and that you and your Family are looking for answers for the many questions that are running through your mind.
Not only are you seeking for answers, you are also looking at your critically ill loved one in the condition that he or she is in and you’re wondering whether he or she will survive and/or will ever be the same.
The Intensive Care team is probably busy trying to stabilise your critically ill loved one’s condition and they may or may not have hinted towards a prognosis of your critically ill loved one’s head or brain injury.
After more than 15 years Intensive Care nursing experience in three different countries, there’s generally nothing harder to predict than the outcome of a severe head or brain injury.
Therefore, it’s very important that you know and understand that there are very few hard and fast rules when it comes to the long-term prognosis of your critically ill loved one if he or she sustained a nasty head or brain injury. The brain or head generally has a life on its own and it’s the only organ that can’t be controlled. Unlike the heart, lungs, liver or kidneys that can be at least temporarily controlled when they’re not functioning properly, the brain can’t be controlled unfortunately.
It’s therefore also very important that you know and understand the particulars of head and brain injuries, because they are very different from many other admission scenarios in Intensive Care.
Let’s therefore look at “The 5 things you need to know if your critically ill loved one is in Intensive Care with a severe head injury or a traumatic brain injury”
1. Brain and/or head injuries need time(many weeks or months) to recover and therefore patience is one of your and your critically ill loved one’s biggest assets
As I have mentioned before, head and brain injuries are very rarely straightforward. They therefore require an enormous amount of patience, diligence and stamina. I have seen many brain and head injuries in Intensive Care that stayed for many weeks and many months in Intensive Care to not only survive but also thrive after rehabilitation.
I have got a relative who was in Intensive Care for a severe head injury and had ongoing rehabilitation and he didn’t fully recover, but he’s certainly able to have a good Quality of Life and enjoy life with his Family. It took a long time to get him there, however the alternative would have been to stop treatment in the early stages of his ICU admission, which thankfully was never even spoken about.
2. The first few days after admission to Intensive Care are crucial and critical for the recovery and survival of your critically ill loved one
Again, head and brain injuries are nasty in its nature and they often go hand in hand with increased pressure in the brain. Increased brain pressure also requires close monitoring and management.
Therefore your critically ill loved one is in an induced coma and requires ventilation.
High and elevated intracranial brain pressures(pressure in the brain) are not uncommon and the higher and more sustained the pressure in the brain gets, the bigger the chance that the brain may be irreversibly damaged due to lack of oxygen supply.
Related article: What is the prognosis after my critically ill loved one’s brain has not had sufficient oxygen supply(hypoxic brain injury)?
Having said that, the first few days and weeks are not only critical and crucial for the survival of your critically ill loved one, they are also crucial in terms of how the Intensive Care team views your critically ill loved one’s prognosis and diagnosis.
What do I mean by that?
The Intensive Care team doesn’t only weigh up the clinical facts, they may also position your critically ill loved one’s diagnosis and prognosis in a very negative light and they may well paint a “doom and gloom” picture. They do this to not give you false hope and they also do it to protect their professional reputation. After all, if things go wrong and they told that they wouldn’t, you may hold them accountable and sue them.
But there are other dynamics at play that you need to be highly vigilant and highly aware about!
Let’s say that the Intensive Care Unit doesn’t believe in the recovery and rehabilitation of your critically ill loved one, they may suggest to you that “withdrawal of treatment” maybe in the best interest of your critically ill loved one. The Intensive Care may also not want to invest the time and other resources that it would take to go through a lengthy and difficult Intensive Care stay. The Intensive Care team, therefore again, might talk about “Futility of treatment”
I have worked in some Intensive Care Units that did “whatever it took” to get a head injury out of Intensive Care alive and I worked in other Intensive Care Units that had a very negative culture and outlook and they therefore are very quick to withdraw treatment so to speak. They have “sold” the Family on the hopelessness of the situation and they then let their loved one die.
3. You and your Family need to listen to your gut feeling and you need to know how your critically ill loved one deals with adversity
This is probably one of your biggest weapons so to speak.
- Irrespective of all the doom and gloom and the negativity that the Intensive Care team may project about your critically ill loved one’s recovery, you need to carefully listen to your gut, because your gut never lies
- How do you and the rest of your Family think that the very person in the Intensive Care bed that you dearly love will fare?
- Take the clinical facts out of the equation for a moment. Do you and your Family think that your critically ill loved one can beat the odds?
- Do you and the rest of your Family think that it is you who knows your critically ill loved one best or do you think it’s the Intensive Care team who knows your critically ill loved one best?
- I have seen many critically ill Patients in Intensive Care over the years and in many situations the Intensive Care team was ready to “withdraw treatment” or “limit treatment” and let the Patient die and the Family wanted to continue treatment, because they BELIEVED in the recovery, in the strength and the SURVIVAL of their critically ill loved one and so treatment was continued with generally a favourable outcome, because it’s you and your Family who know your critically ill loved one best and it’s not the Intensive Care team…
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4. Many Intensive Care Units simply don’t want to invest the time, energy and resources that it takes to get a severe head or brain injury Patient through a sometimes long Intensive Care stay. They often also lack the positive outlook that it takes and they have a limited mindset
A bed in Intensive Care is a very scarce, expensive and valuable resource, generally designated to only very sick and critically ill Patients. One day in Intensive Care tends to cost $ 4,000- $ 5,000.
The reality is that money, time or energy should not be part of the equation when it comes to saving lives.
I have worked in some Intensive Care Units that have an abundant mindset and they simply did “whatever it took” to get a head or brain injury Patient back on the road to recovery. I remember one gentleman who was in ICU for nearly 6 months after he sustained a severe head injury and he was very sick and “half dead” at one stage, but we never gave up and he eventually recovered and left ICU, to only come back six months later to say thank you and that he couldn’t remember a single thing, but that he wanted to thank us and he was back to living a normal life.
Other Intensive Care Units with a negative culture and a limited mindset, tend to “throw in the towel” much earlier by “selling” to Families of critically ill Patients a “hopeless” situation that would warrant a “withdrawal of treatment” or a “withdrawal of life support” and they also tell you that it’s “in the best interest” of your critically ill loved one. The only people who should know and decide about “what’s in the best interest” of a person who’s incapable of making their own decisions, is their Family and nobody else.
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5. Many Intensive Care Units don’t want you to get involved in the decision making process about your critically ill loved one’s treatment and therapy, because the Intensive Care team wants to keep the power for themselves as there are too many wheels in motion that you simply don’t know about
Look, after more than 15 years Intensive Care Nursing in three different countries I had plenty of time to learn the dynamics in Intensive Care inside out. They are often always the same. The Intensive Care team doesn’t want to get you involved in the decision making process and they want to keep all the power for themselves.
The wheels that are in motion that you generally don’t know about are things like the financial viability of your critically ill loved one’s admission to Intensive Care and generally speaking a long-term stay in Intensive Care for a severe head injury is often not classified or viewed as something “financially viable”. Therefore, “withdrawing treatment” might be the preferred option for the Intensive Care team, given the financial viability around your critically ill loved one’s admission.
Furthermore, you also need to be aware that if your critically ill loved would occupy an Intensive Care bed for a prolonged period, that other admissions wouldn’t be able to be admitted and miss out on a Critical Care bed.
The reality is that the Intensive Care team doesn’t want you to have any control, power and influence and their only goal is to press their agenda.
You therefore need to make sure that you maximise your level of control, power and influence, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
How can you leverage your level of PEACE OF MIND, power, influence and control whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care?
You’ll get to that all important feeling of power, control and influence when you download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report NOW by entering your email below! In Your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” report you’ll learn quickly how to get real power and real control and how you can influence decision making fast, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care! Our FREE reports help you with in-depth insight that you must know whilst your loved one is critically ill or is dying in Intensive Care! Sign up for your FREE membership and download your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT now!
In your FREE “INSTANT IMPACT” REPORT you’ll learn how to speak the “secret” Intensive Care language so that the doctors and the nurses know straight away that you are an insider and that you know and understand what’s really happening in Intensive Care!
In your FREE report you’ll also discover
- How to ask the doctors and the nurses the right questions
- Discover the many competing interests in Intensive Care and how your critically ill loved one’s treatment may depend on those competing interests
- How to eliminate fear, frustration, stress, struggle and vulnerability even if your loved one is dying
- 5 “killer” tips& strategies helping you to get on the right path to PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence in your situation
- You’ll get real world examples that you can easily adapt to your and your critically ill loved one’s situation
- How to stop being intimidated by the Intensive Care team and how you will be seen as equals
- You’ll get crucial ‘behind the scenes’ insight so that you know and understand what is really happening in Intensive Care
- How you need to manage doctors and nurses in Intensive Care(it’s not what you think)
Thank you for tuning into this week’s episode of “your questions answered” and I’ll see you again in another update next week! Make sure you also check out our “blog” section for more tips and strategies or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions!
Also check out our Products section where you get more Ebooks, Videos and Audio recordings and where you can also get 1:1 consulting!
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM and I’ll see you again next week with another update!
Sincerely, your Friend
Patrik Hutzel
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