Evidently this is the week for bad news here at MJ's. Hopefully, it will end here. Unfortunately, my wife's father stopped breathing at his job on Wednesday. Witnesses said he appeared to be choking, but he was not choking on anything solid. He stopped breathing and was given CPR and revived. He stopped breathing again, was given CPR again, and was once more revived. The ambulance arrived and they used the paddles and took him to the hospital. To make a long story short, he has not yet regained consciousness. He is in what was referred to as a "semi-coma". He is breathing on his own and his heart is working on its own. Tests of all types have been done and they claim he did not have a heart attack or stroke. There are also no signs of hemmorage or other brain damage. The only explanation was that because he stopped breathing, his brain shut down. In time, the brain will reconnect. The doctors felt this would happen within 48-72 hours. I have never heard of anything like this. Since I am the son-in-law I am keeping my mouth shut. My wife has a college educated brother who is conversing with doctors, so I feel it best that I stay out of it. However, this makes little sense to me. I fully expected the CTScan to reveal something, but neurologist said no. Does anyone have a clue or any similar experience that might make it easier for me to understand this phenomenon? What concerns me is - what if the 48-72 hour period goes by and he remains unconscious? What if one week goes by? Two weeks? Any help, advice, words of wisdom would be appreciated. I am simply confused. I have tried to do some research but have found limited results that were comprehensible to me! I can take bad news as well as good. I would just like to hear some opinion or even educated guess.
Medical Question - Coma
- Thread starter ferdville
- Start date
I hope all is well, I cannot offer you any advice or expertise except to say that Doctors are extremely well educated and gifted. I think you can take some solace in their words as far as the prognosis being upbeat, the rest I think you have to rest on faith. I will have a good thought for you and your family
Thanks, fatdaddy. I don't have any complaints about the doctors. They have a hell of a job to do. I am just perplexed at the overall situation. He is still unconscious. The neurologists are coming in Monday. I think they might not have done an EEG yet. I keep hearing about this 72 hour figure as though it is some sort of a magic number for comas. Yet, no mention as to what steps, if any, will be taken if he is still out when the 72 hours is up.
never heard of such. very tough to deal with unknown stuff like this. be strong for your wife, she needs you now. hasn't anybody asked the doctors these questions? or, is that their answer? wait and see after 72 hours? hopefully he wakes up today and gets released soon! we'll be thinking about and praying for your family.
ferd,
My soon to be ex is a nurse and has to work at the hospital on tuesday I will ask her to ask a Doctor we know some questions and see if he can come up with any answers. I know that catscans and eeg's are often postponed if there is any swelling or hemmorhaging (sp?) in the cranial area. I cannot, however, offer any expertise. As I said, I will have Mary ask when she goes to work. My thoughts are with you and your family. Keep your chin up!
Cris
My soon to be ex is a nurse and has to work at the hospital on tuesday I will ask her to ask a Doctor we know some questions and see if he can come up with any answers. I know that catscans and eeg's are often postponed if there is any swelling or hemmorhaging (sp?) in the cranial area. I cannot, however, offer any expertise. As I said, I will have Mary ask when she goes to work. My thoughts are with you and your family. Keep your chin up!
Cris
I am trying to stay out of much of it, just being there to support my wife. Her brother is sort of running the show and I can nudge him in the right direction. Last night there was some progress. He has opened his eyes and appeared to respond to sound - though you have to be careful to differentiate reaction from perceptivity. Last night he also responded to a nipple twist (sounds ghoulish, but effective) which was first. Seems as though he may be coming slowly to an early stage of perception. I am very disturbed that the weekend went by and neurologist never showed up. Monday is the day when the neurologist will be by and we hope to find out more. I appreciate the good thoughts and if I have some questions for fatdaddy's ex, I will try to get them up Monday. This is truly an odd situation and the lack of knowledge is as frustrating as the situation is painful. Thanks again.
Glad to hear that your father-in-law is responding to noxious tactile stimuli. Since he has been in a semi-comatose condition, there is no spontaneous movement but to aggressive stimulation, he may stir or moan, attempting to withdraw from a painful stimulus. Therefore, the brain stem and tendon reflexes are intact. His condition may have come about because of ventricular fibrillation(paddles were used) and cerebral hypoxia(low oxygen content of the blood) resulted. With the decrease blood flow(cerebral perfusion) to the head, a build up of carbon dioxide and oxygen deficit both cause vasodilatation and therefore increases intracranial pressures, leading to the semi-comatose condition. The 72 hour time frame is from when the initial occurs to when the metabolites in the brain begins to reach normal levels, then you will see neurological improvement. Hope this helps a little. Only good thoughts for you father-in-law.
