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How Some Critically Ill Patients Have Turned Their Lives Around? Quick Tip for Families in ICU!

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

So today, I actually want to read out some YouTube comments from our viewers here. So, thank you very much if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel. I can only encourage you that if you want to know more about how to operate in intensive care if you have a loved one in intensive care, subscribe to my YouTube channel. You’ve come to the right place.  I give tips here for families of critically ill patients in intensive care almost every day of the week. I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions on a live call.

So today, I want to read out some messages of hope. I know a lot of you are doing it tough out there. You have a loved one in intensive care. You get the doom and gloom from intensive care teams. You don’t know how to steer this incredibly difficult territory when you have a loved one in intensive care.

Today, I really want to send out another message of hope and I want to read out a message from Debra who gratefully left a message on my YouTube channel and says,

“Hi Patrik,

I’ve been there. I died for 26 minutes. I spent weeks and months in a coma. I spent 1 year in rehab learning to walk again, that was in 2009. Now, in 2024. Never give up. Keep going. Good luck. Sending lots of love from Headway, Nottingham in the U.K.”

Well, thank you so much, Debra, for sharing that with everyone here. I think it is really important for families of critically ill patients in intensive care to understand there is hope.

I’m a critical care nurse by background. I have worked in critical care and intensive care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse unit manager for over 5 years. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013.

I can say without the slightest hint of exaggeration, we have saved many, many lives for families in intensive care and you can verify that on our testimonial section, as well as on our podcast section where we have done some client interviews.

I’ve looked after thousands of critically ill patients and their families in intensive care over the years. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we are here specializing on family consulting and advocacy for their loved ones in intensive care.

So, let’s read out another comment from Jada who says,

“Hi Patrik,

Thank you so much for your videos. My dad had a diffused cerebral edema after a cardiac arrest. He was in an induced coma  for 14 days. Now, he’s recovering, already opened his eyes, and has some small movements on legs, mouth, and hand. I do have hope”.

That’s exactly what you should have. You should have hope. You should be optimistic. You should not let anyone dissuade you from being optimistic. You can’t control other people, but you are in 100% control of what you do or how you react to other people. That is what you are 100% in control of, and that is what you need to take control of.

I have another email from Mark, who also left a comment on my YouTube channel. So, thank you, Mark, for leaving this comment. He says,

“Hi Patrik,

Ten years after an unattended heart attack, no oxygen for 20 to 30 minutes, I could not articulate nor remember anyone’s names, including my family. I did not think of hygiene for months. I lived alone in a new town with few acquaintances. It seemed to have killed everything but my body. The first 4 years, I wished for death but after that, things began to change.

Now, 10 years have passed, and most physical attributes have returned. I still have some deficits, comprehension of written materials, senses of taste, hunger and fullness, smell, and pain, with the latter being most amazing and also terrifying. Speech was poor and devoid of eloquence. Most disturbing when answering doctors, where does it hurt questions.

Small motor skills on my left side were unnerving and saw me dropping tightly gripped items often. When walking, I seemed to only turn left. For 2 years, I kept biting the inside of my left cheek, and I still have the scars.

A certain OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disease) crept into my life. I use only colored plastic hangers and was befuddled if I hadn’t the right matching color to match the garment. I love my morning coffee, but found myself pouring barbecue sauce as a creamer, or possibly a sweetener over and over for months, wasting pots of my morning goodness.

Eating is now for texture and visual pleasantry. I remember my favorite foods and what they taste like. I must eat by schedule to remember when to eat or that I’ve already eaten. Short-term memory is a struggle, and organizational skills are truly non-existent.

I had worked with stroke patients and kept reminding myself of how wonderfully plastic the brain is. Not the only “help” I had was from my librarian, who showed me how to use my computer and got me started with online brain exercises.”

Well, Mark, this is amazing that you’ve shared this on my YouTube channel and that I can share this here because I think people need hope and they need to see that regardless of what you’ve been through in the last 10 years and kudos to you for not giving up and for going through the trials and tribulations. I can only imagine what you’ve been through, and thank you so much for sharing this here because someone must have not given up on you and whoever that was whether it was the intensive care team or some of your family members that advocated for you, it looks like you’ve gone through trials and tribulations, but you’re coming out fine on the other end, and it is amazing that you can share it with us here.

I hope that families in intensive care don’t get bogged down by the negativity and by the doom and gloom from in intensive care teams because, as you can see, there is hope. Like I said, Mark, can’t thank you enough to you sharing this on the YouTube channel.

So, that is my quick tip for today.

As you can see, we get so many questions for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, that’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com. In the membership, 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. You can become a member and get access to our membership if you go to intensivecarehotline.com and you click on that membership link or you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly.

In the membership, you also get 21 e-books and 21 videos that are exclusively accessible for our members. Those e-books and videos will help you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, and also help you making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly, and I talk to doctors and nurses directly. Once again, I’ll make sure you make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence. Like I said, without any doubt, we have saved so many lives over the years with our advocacy.

Families in intensive care 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, and that’s why you haven’t gotten the outcomes that you want so far.

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

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. But I also strategize with you whether it’s even the right thing to do to go into a family meeting. Once again, 99% of families in intensive care have no strategy when they go into a family meeting with intensive care teams.

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

Now, if you like my videos subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families of critically ill patients 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, what questions and insights you have from this video.

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.