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

So, today’s tip is a question from Amal who asks, “I would like some advice. My husband had a cardiac arrest on February 20, 2023, with a hypoxic brain injury. The MRI was done. He was in a coma for five days in the ICU in deep sedation. He now opens his eyes on Day 6. Currently, he’s moving his shoulders and tilting his head. He’s opening his eyes with pain simulation. Also, he tried to move his lips. Today, he’s trying to move his hands, both sides. The doctors reduced his anti-seizure medication to half of the dose. From your experience, what do you think about his prognosis?” So, the first question here is what’s the MRI result? You should speak to a neurologist about the result of the MRI scan or CT brain scan. It looks like that has been done.

And really the biggest challenge for families in intensive care as always, is that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know their rights and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care.

When someone is in a situation like your husband, there are dozens of things happening simultaneously and they all need to be looked at very carefully. Again, starting from the MRI scan report, starting from how long was the cardiac arrest for? How long did it take for the heart to start beating again? Was it two minutes? Was it five minutes? Was it 10 minutes? Was it 20 minutes? How long was the “downtime”?

Then the next question is, especially after cardiac arrest, was he in cooling therapy? Was he potentially paralyzed with paralyzing agents during cooling therapy? Because that might delay waking up as well. Then what sedation was he on? It doesn’t seem me like he’s now off sedation and he’s slowly waking up.

Now also, you’re saying he’s moving his shoulders and tilting his head. Has he had any seizures? What’s the risk for seizures in this situation? Ask the doctors what they think the risk is. And now you’re saying today’s trying to move his hands, both sides. Again, is it movement? Is it purposeful movement? Is it just twitching?

So, prognosis is really difficult to say, going forward, because I don’t have enough information here, would need more information. Like I just said, what medications is he on? For example, what’s the, again, MRI scan of the brain result and so forth. So, I hope that helps if you give me more information and then we can get back to you with potentially what the next steps are.

So, that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com. 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, in a membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related.

Also, if you need a medical record review, please let me know as well. Contact us at intensivecarehotline.com. We can help you with a medical record review while your loved one is in intensive care. But we can also review medical records after intensive care, especially if you are needing closure. If you’re having unanswered questions or if you have suspicions of medical negligence, we can help you with all of that. But it’s so much better for you and your family if we can review them in real time, almost give you like a second opinion.

Now, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, share the video with friends and families or anyone that you know is in a similar situation, click the like button, click the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next, or what questions and insights you have from this video.

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care.