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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Dad Had Cardiac Arrest with Hypoxic Brain Injury, First We Wanted to Give Up, Now He’s Improving!

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

So, today I have an email from AJ who says:

“Hi Patrik,

Thank you so much for making these videos on YouTube. I really appreciate your work.

We are currently in a similar situation with my dad having a cardiac arrest and being in a coma state for the past month and a half. We have downtime of roughly 10 to 15 minutes, but we are not willing to give up or let go. We are not getting much support from the hospital staff. Just the same things that you mentioned over and over again in your videos. From Day 1 to today, we have seen many small improvements, and we are therefore hoping for the best recovery possible.

Thanks again for the info and resources.”

Well, that’s really nice of you AJ for sending this email and I know you send a follow up email where you say, “Now my dad is at home doing slightly better. It’s still challenging to manage but so much better for him to be cared at home. We’re trying everything possible to help him improve.”

So, that is really good feedback. I really selected this email from AJ because we’re getting so many questions where families ask us – after three or four days, should we just stop treatment for my family member after cardiac arrest? Well, look at what AJ has done. He has gone for months and not knowing what’s happening, but he eventually took his dad at home and things are now improving.

So, that’s why I’m saying – always make decisions today that you don’t regret in 12 months’ time. How can you predict that after only a few days in ICU, things aren’t going to improve? How would you know that? You wouldn’t. Only time will tell you.

There’s plenty of time to stop treatment if things are not turning out the way you want them to turn out, especially if someone is on a ventilator with the tracheostomy, for example, that can always be stopped if you think things are not heading in the way that you want them to head for your family member when they’re critically ill in intensive care. But giving up in the early stages, you’d be left wondering what if. And you don’t want to be left wondering what if. You need to find out what happens, and you won’t find that out by what if. You will only find that out by keeping treatment going, by waiting; often, it’s a waiting game. It can sometimes be weeks, months on end. I get that, it is extremely taxing for you and for your family. I get all of that, but you have to keep in mind that if you stop today, would you regret that in 12 months’ time?

Now, AJ didn’t regret it and I don’t believe that many other families have regretted it. I mean, the story I’ve been reading out here for years now, many families always say, “Oh, thank you so much for encouraging us not to give up. Thank you so much for helping us.” There have been, I believe, way more positives than negatives because on the other hand, we have a lot of families reach out to us and say, “Oh, my mom, my dad, my spouse, whoever died last year in ICU, we only ‘pulled the plug’ after a few days, and now I’m realizing that I’ve made a big mistake.” I mean, I’ve made many videos about that too where I read out emails from subscribers who regret it — withdrawing treatment way too early — realizing that they’ve made a big mistake, but then it’s too late. Then they want the medical record review but then it’s too late.

We can help you with a medical record review for sure, but it’s much better for us to help you now, right now then. When the situation is really urgent and you feel like your emotions are overwhelming, you feel like my only choice is to give up; well, the intensive care team wants you to give up so they can free up the bed in many situations, not in all situations, but in many situations. Your job is to see through it and make your own decisions, go with your own decision-making process, go with your gut. If your gut is telling me, “We want to keep going,” you need to follow your gut, very important. We can give you a second opinion here.

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

If you go to our testimonial section and you go to our podcast section and you read our testimonials and you listen to some of our podcast interviews where we saved lives, it is clear that some intensive care units have ulterior motives. They want to free up a bed by stopping life support, because otherwise our work wouldn’t be successful. So, you got to look at it from all angles and giving up is never an option really. Time will tell you what’s going to happen with your family member. Only time will tell you and that time can only be given if you keep trying.

So, because we get so many questions from families of intensive care patients here at intensivecarehotline.com, that’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care and you can get access to the membership if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, if you’re clicking on the membership link or if you are going to intensivecaresupport.org directly. 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. In the membership, you also have access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that are exclusively written and recorded just for our members that will help you in making informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence and it’ll help you making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I talked to doctors and nurses directly. I make sure that once again, you get peace of mind control, power, and influence, you make informed decisions, and your loved one gets best care and treatment. Once I start talking to the doctors directly, the dynamics will change in your favor because then they know you have someone in your team that can hold them accountable as a professional advocate and consultant.

Now, we also offer medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams, once again, making sure that the right questions are being asked, the question that you haven’t even considered asking and once again, I make sure that you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence so you’re your critically ill loved one gets best care and treatment.

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.

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 support@intensivecarehotline.com.

If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have, and share the video with your friends and families. I also do a weekly YouTube live, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you get the notifications there.

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.

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