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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from Intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care yesterday. I had Carol sent me an email with a question and she said that her mother was in Intensive Care now for six weeks initially. She had bypass surgery or open heart surgery. She had some complications, she ended up ventilated for two weeks, ended up with a tracheostomy and then eventually was weaned off the ventilator even got decannulated. Basically, had the tracheostomy removed and 10 days later just as she was on the cusp of going back to a ward she ended up with pulmonary edema. And she had the breathing tube reinserted again and she’s now in ICU still. In an induced coma, back again with the breathing tube.
So now Carol is asking whether it’s worth continuing treatment because she thinks her mom is suffering and whether it would be better to let her pass away. Now, my advice in a situation like this is. Carol, for now it’s probably too early to make a decision. You got to see how it goes in the next few days. What do you need to keep in mind is, even though it’s a prolonged ICU stay and it certainly comes with you know, undesired side effects. You still have to remember most patients in Intensive Care survive their state more than 90% of patients in Intensive Care survive their stay, that’s number one.
Number two, when patients are in a prolonged induced coma they don’t remember anything, you know, even though you think it’s not pleasant and it probably isn’t. You know, your mom probably won’t remember much of it. And the other thing is that even if you, even if the Intensive Care team was to withdraw treatment, there’s no guarantee that your mom was actually dying, you know without the help of medications that could potentially euthanize your mum. You know, you got to consider all of these things. So my tip for today is you know, if you have…if your family member is in a similar situation, you got to keep going for now and see how it unfolds. You got to give your mum more time in a situation like this.