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

So, here we go again today, I spoke to a client this morning who says she’s got her 77-year-old dad in ICU since the 5^th of June, and he’s been on a ventilator from Day 1. Today, being the 14th of July, it took five weeks for the intensive care team to do a tracheostomy. Now, if you’ve watched any of my videos and I’ve been preaching this for over 10 years now, the tracheostomy in ICU should be done after about Day 10 to Day 14 of someone being on mechanical ventilation with a breathing tube and the inability to wean off the ventilator.

So, why did it take the intensive care team 5 weeks to do a tracheostomy and what’s wrong about that? So, let me elaborate on this today. So, if someone can’t wean off the ventilator and after about 10 to 14 days and they’re in an induced coma because it’s difficult for them to tolerate the breathing tube, they should have a tracheostomy. That’s assuming the intensive care team has done everything beyond the shadow of a doubt to move someone or a patient towards extubation, i.e., the removal of the breathing tube. If all attempts have failed, fair enough, then the tracheostomy has its time and its place.

So, it’s interesting that this particular client only told me that they started doing their own research only in the last two days though. So quite literally, they have been flying blind for the last five weeks. Literally, they didn’t know what they didn’t know. The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is 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. They don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care.

Classical example here, once again, that if you don’t do your own research, you will be fighting an uphill battle and you don’t know what you don’t know because here is the detriment of this situation.

So, the lady was telling me that her father has been in an induced coma for the last 5 weeks, on very strong sedatives and opiates, on tons of fentanyl, tons of midazolam/ Versed, very strong opiates and very strong sedatives. So, now he’s not waking up. Well, no surprises. He’s been literally under water for the last 5 weeks.

Both Midazolam and fentanyl are highly addictive substances. So now, he has to go through withdrawal of those medications first, probably prolonging and delaying the process of waking up. That’s Number 1.

Number 2, he’s been in a coma for 5 weeks and the deconditioning of her father is real. The muscles he’s losing every day when he’s in an induced coma, not moving, opens up the window for many, many complications which she told me he has. He’s got blood clots, he’s got sepsis, his kidneys are failing.  So, the sooner someone can have a tracheostomy, get off sedation, get rid of sedatives, the less likely the chances of complications, the higher chances of a meaningful and quicker recovery.

So, I have been saying this for many years, you need to do your research from Day 1 in intensive care. Intensive care teams are not even telling you half of the story of what’s going on unless you know what succinct questions to ask.

So, it’s another lesson here that you need to ask the right questions from Day 1, but you can only do that if you have professional help and advocacy and guidance by your side on your team, which is what we do here at intensivecarehotline.com as professional advocates and consultants for families in intensive care. Take a look on our website at the testimonial section and I will also link to a podcast here in this video with one of our clients, where I believe we saved their life, and you can hear it from the client directly on this podcast.

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] 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 the membership area and via email and we answer all questions, intensive care related.

I also offer 1:1 consulting and advocacy via the phone, via Zoom, via WhatsApp, via Skype, whatever medium works for you. I can also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams. I talk to intensive care teams directly. We can get on a group call. Been there, done that many, many times. Again, look at our testimonial section on our website with very many happy clients.

If you need a medical record review, please contact us as well. We can do a medical record review in real time, and we can give you a second opinion in real time. Also, if you need a medical record review after intensive care, if you have unanswered questions, if you’re needing closure, or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence, please contact us as well.

Now, 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 from this video.

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care for now.