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YOUR INTENSIVE CARE HOTLINE - Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Fiancé Had a Valve Repair and is Not Waking Up in ICU, Are There Any Complications?

/ Patrik Hutzel - Critical Care Nurse Consultant / No Comments

Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Fiancé Had a Valve Repair and is Not Waking Up in ICU, Are There Any Complications?

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

Today I have from Marko who says, “Hi, Patrik. My fiancé had heart surgery three days ago, heart valve repair. She has not been able to wake up for 3 days. She was transferred to ICU, and they said there’s no brain damage and that she’s breathing on her own, no ventilator. Can you tell me more? Is this a serious situation?”

So, I’m surprised. First of all, if she hasn’t been able to wake up, that she is on a ventilator. But I’m wondering whether this is potentially a typo in your email because most of the time when people can’t wake up after open heart surgery, they do stay on a ventilator until they can wake up. If she’s not waking up, she’s probably at risk of her airway becoming unstable because there’s a risk of aspiration, there’s a risk of airway collapse, but there are probably some other complications here.

I’ve worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I’ve worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years and where I’ve been consulting and for families in intensive care since 2013 at intensivecarehotline.com. I can confidently say we have saved many lives for our clients in intensive care. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com or on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we’ve done client interviews.

So, coming back to Marko’s email, good that she has no brain damage, it’s good that she is breathing on her own. There probably have been some complications of the heart surgery (84), which could include bleeding, would include arrhythmias like the heart has gone into irregular heart rhythm (ECG-electrocardiography), which is actually quite common. She could have had a cardiac tamponade, for example, where there’s bleeding around the heart that could impact the beating function of the heart.

So, there’s so many complications that could happen after cardiac surgery. Also, she might need a temporary pacemaker. She might need some pacing leads. It’s difficult to say from the outset what exactly has happened, but these are certainly complications that I have seen in my many years of intensive care nursing that can happen after open heart surgery or after heart valve repairs.

Other things that could come into consideration when it comes to heart valve repairs or heart valve replacement is the patients after surgery need to go on anticoagulation such as warfarin, and sometimes heparin temporarily. So, these are the complications that I think could have occurred here, but you can take what I said and ask those questions to the intensive care team to see what they are saying.

Most patients after open heart surgery are actually getting out of ICU after one or two days, assuming that heart surgery is going straightforward. But it also sounds to me like heart surgery, in this case, has not been straightforward.

We also might check whether she still has the chest drains in her chest after heart surgery, whether there’s still blood coming out or any other bodily fluids that would also further complicate the situation. I presume, it’s either bleeding or irregular heart rhythm such as Afib (atrial fibrillation), for example, may cause all of this. But also, things like hypovolemia, she might have lost a lot of blood during surgery. Does she need a blood transfusion to help her to wake up to get stronger? Those are all considerations you need to take into account here.

We have helped many hundreds of members and clients over the years here at intensivecarehotline.com and we can help you as well. That’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com if you click on the membership link, or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly, In the membership, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in the membership via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related. In the membership, you will have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personal written and recorded, and that will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, influence always, and making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

I also do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply can’t afford to get wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly when you have a loved one in intensive care, and I ask all the questions to the doctors and nurses that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also do medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected] with your questions.

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Thank you so much for watching.

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

Take care for now.

 

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