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

So today I want to answer a quick question from Tina and read out her question and then the tip will follow.

Hi Patrik,

My dad is a five-year glioblastoma brain tumor survivor. On May the 18^th, he was airlifted to Davis hospital, as the local hospital did an MRI and has seen that the tumor was back. He had surgery, took him three days to wake up from anesthesia. He said he felt fine and he could see.

The next night they called me at 2:00 AM saying my dad was in respiratory distress and needed permission to ventilate him. I said, yes. The next day he went into septic shock and had pneumonia. They had him hooked up to vasopressors and inotropes, and that was saving his life. I was told he beat that one too.

It’s been three weeks and he can’t be fully awake. He squeezes our hand when we ask questions and he wiggles his toes. He’s responding. They put a temporary shunt into his head and he’s scheduled for a permanent one on the 30th of June.

They put in a tracheostomy and all his vital signs and blood works are normal. He did catch a bacterial infection that they’re treating now. I need help. They are telling me to let him go. But how can you, when someone is squeezing your hand and wiggling toes. I’m devastated. Please help.

From Tina

Hi Tina,

Well, thank you Tina, for sharing your dad’s situation and I’m very sorry to hear what’s happening there. Well, the short version is this, especially with brain tumors, it takes time to wake up, or you could say that across the board with brain injuries, it takes time to wake up.

And the good news is, your dad seems to be very strong. He seems to be beating all the odds. He survived the surgery. Now he’s got a shunt. He’s got the tracheostomy. He survived the pneumonia. Yes, he survived the septic shock and he still has the bacterial infection. But given that he responded to that before, you should be positive that he might be responding to it now.

So here is the thing, Tina. So especially if your dad has another bacterial infection, that’s probably a complicating factor and it takes time for people to come out of a critical illness.

Your dad has been through a lot. The brain tumor came back. He had surgery. Now he’s got a temporary shunt. He’s scheduled for a new one. He had a pneumonia. He ended up with sepsis. So your dad has been through a lot. And given that so far, he’s been beating the odds, you should definitely not agree to let him go.

And how can you let go of a person that is awake? So you’re right on track there. I mean, letting your dad go while he’s awake, well that’s almost euthanasia. And euthanasia means hastening death and that is illegal.

The other thing is, if your dad is squeezing fingers and wiggling his toes, you should actually ask him, what does he want? You could ask him something along the lines of, “Dad, do you want us to continue treatment?” And if he’s squeezing fingers as a yes, well then you have the answer and then you should go back to the doctors and should tell the doctors what your dad wants.

It all comes down to your father’s preference, not to the ICU team’s preference. Ask your father. If he can squeeze fingers, he can answer you the question, whether he wants you to continue treatment or not.

And that is my quick tip for today.

Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care and you need help, go to intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or send me an email to [email protected] with your questions.

Like this video, comment down below what you want to see next, and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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