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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, today’s tip is about, again, waking up in intensive care. And here is an email from Tom. And Tom writes, “My dad won’t wake up after being cooled after cardiac arrest. He now has a tracheostomy and cannot give a thumbs up or wiggle toes, but he will look and blink his eyes as we tell him, “blink your eyes 10 times if you can hear us”. The MRI’s normal. The CT scan is normal. The vital signs are normal. He’s trying to breathe above the ventilator. He’s just having a tough time giving a thumbs up but can squeeze”.

Okay, Tom. So, in situations like that, what’s really important is being patient. And I know that’s easier said than done, but you got to give this time. You haven’t shared in your email how many days or weeks potentially your dad has been in ICU. But the good news is, his MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is normal. His CT (Computerized Tomography) scan is normal. He’s probably been in a deep coma especially if he’s been cooled. He’s probably been in a deep induced coma as well as being paralyzed. And when patients in intensive care have paralyzing agents for a few days, usually takes longer for them to wake up.

So, I do believe with what you’ve shared here, you have reason to be cautiously optimistic that your dad will wake up. It’s also a sign that if they’ve done a tracheostomy, they have reason to believe your dad will recover. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have done that. So that is really positive news. So, what needs to happen next is, I would assume all sedatives and opiates have been taken off, I would hope that’s what happened, and if all sedatives and opiates have been taken away, he should wake up over time.

Now, what is really important is stimulation. Your dad should get stimulated. He should have physical therapy. Physiotherapy. He should get mobilized slowly but surely. Get in a chair, in a tilt chair very slowly and that will stimulate him and hopefully he can wake up step by step. There are many patients in ICU that do not wake up quickly. It takes a long time and really be patient. And then the next step is to wean him off the ventilator.

So, other things that are very important in situations like this is good nursing care, good basic nursing care, so that he can again, have that attention and he can have that stimulation. Maybe he can have a shower in a shower trolley. He definitely needs to have daily, regular washes, good mouth care, good eye care, good nose care. That is all very important in situations like this.

So be patient and if for whatever reason he doesn’t wake up, be more patient and make sure they’re doing all the right things, again, with physiotherapy, stimulating him, mobilizing him, and then wean him off the ventilator. If for whatever reason he can’t be weaned off the ventilator, he can’t have the tracheostomy removed, you should check out intensivecareathome.com as a next step.

Again, that is intensivecareathome.com as a next step there. We can help long-term intensive care patients to go home. Instead of staying in intensive care. We are currently operating in all major capital cities in Australia, as well as all regional areas in Australia.

So that’s my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com, and call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected].

Also, have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. There you have access to me and my team 24-hours a day, and we answer all questions, Intensive care and Intensive Care at Home related.

If you need a medical record review  while your loved one is in intensive care, please contact us as well. We do medical record reviews in real time or also after intensive care, especially if you have unanswered questions or you need closure or you’re suspecting medical negligence, please contact us.

Thanks for watching this video. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Give the video a like, share the video with your friends and families. Click the notification bell and comment below what questions and insights you have from this video or what you want to see next.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and I’ll talk to you in a few days.