Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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

Today, I also want to talk about the fruits of our labor, and I want to showcase a testimonial. I want to read out the testimonial first but then I also want to talk about the back story, of course, so that you can understand what led to this. This was actually a client and a member of our Intensive Care Hotline membership.

So, the client writes to us, “Thank you so much for all you’ve done to help my brother and my family. I’m so thrilled to report that my brother went home from hospital today. He’s now eating on his own and walking with the help of a walker. His recovery has almost been a miracle. Intensive Care Hotline and the membership was a huge part of that. We cannot thank you enough. His wife has now taken leave from work to be with him full time. So, since he’s no longer in critical care, we would really like to thank you for everything that you’ve done. Hopefully, we won’t find ourselves in a similar situation ever again in the future. But, God forbid, if we do, we know that you guys are there. God bless each and every one of you for the amazing work that you are doing.”

So, this is from a client, Lisa, that we worked with earlier in the year. The background story was pretty much that her brother in his early 50s was in ICU. I believe at the time with the stroke. When Lisa first contacted us, he was in ICU and ICU was pretty adamant that they wanted to withdraw treatment. Bear in mind, this is a man in his early 50s.

Today, just today, Lisa has also sent another email saying that Lisa’s son is getting married today and that her brother is attending the wedding. How nice is that? Now, bear in mind, this is a man in his early 50s who was basically destined to die according to the ICU team until we successfully intervened and he had ended up having a tracheostomy instead of going to hospice, which is what I suggested because they said, “Well, if he was going to survive, he won’t have any quality of life.” Now, how is that for not having any quality of life going to a wedding?

It just goes to show that you have to make your own decisions. It just goes to show that if you don’t get a second opinion, if you don’t get professional help and advocacy, your family member could be doomed big time.

Anyway, coming back to when we first started working with Lisa and her family, I remember I was in a family meeting with them over the phone where I then educated the family about a tracheostomy. They didn’t even have an idea that was an option. Eventually, had a tracheostomy. ICU then push to get him a PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) tube as well so they could send him to an LTAC.

Now again, with our help with our insights, I told them not to give consent to a PEG tube because otherwise they’ll just push him out to LTAC, and long-term acute care (LTAC) is the better version of a nursing home if at all. I recommended to the family that they should wean him off the ventilator and take the tracheostomy tube out while he’s in ICU. This is basically what’s happened in the end. He got weaned off the ventilator in ICU, he got the tracheostomy tube removed in ICU. Now he’s at home and on his way to a full recovery.

So again, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care 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.

So, all along the way, if the family had given in to the demands of the ICU, their brother either would have passed away or he would have ended up in an LTAC where in LTAC, they don’t really know how to manage ventilation and tracheostomy. We’re talking to people in LTAC every day. They’re begging us helping them to get their loved ones out of. If they had given consent to a PEG tube, as well as the tracheostomy, he would have ended up in LTAC and he probably would still be on a ventilator there.

So, you have to know when to make the right calls for your family member. You have to know what strategies work, what strategies don’t work. You have to know what the next steps in a critical illness are. Is a tracheostomy the right thing to do? Is a PEG tube the right thing to do? Can a patient be extubated?

It’s critical for you to get a second opinion because if you don’t, that’s when things go pear-shaped pretty quickly and things can quite literally be deadly, and I’m not exaggerating here.

So, you need to reach out to us as quickly as you can if you have a loved one in intensive care. Things can get pear-shaped pretty quickly. It is life or death. There’s no other way to describe it when it comes to critical illness in intensive care, and you don’t want your family member to be a casualty.

You want your family member being in a situation like Lisa’s brother. You want him to have best care and treatment. Unfortunately, Lisa’s brother only got best care and treatment and got him to the other side of this by Lisa seeking professional help, seeking a second opinion, and guiding her and her family step by step through what’s happening in ICU.

We can change the trajectory pretty quickly. You just got to take the advice and you just got to run with it and then everything will change for you.

So, that’s my testimonial for today.

If you have a family member or 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 simply send us an email to [email protected] with your questions.

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 contact us as well. We can review medical records in real time when your loved one is in ICU and give you that crucial, absolutely crucial second opinion in real time. We also review medical records after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you simply suspecting medical negligence.

Subscribe to my YouTube   channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families, and comment below what you want to see next or what questions and insights you have.

Thank you so much for watching.

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

Take care for now.

Related Articles:

Quick Tip for Families in ICU: When Do You Need to Start your Research if Your Loved One is in ICU? Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Dad is in ICU Psychosis and ICU Delirium, How do We Get Him Out of the Delirium? Quick Tip for Families in ICU: What Happens with My Husband in ICU After a Heart Attack? Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: What are Alternatives to a Tracheostomy? Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Husband Has Survived a Diabetic Coma and is Now Not Waking Up in ICU, Is This Normal?