sah Has somebody had an infection while in the ICU?

[Del]

My mum had an SAH, it's been 5 weeks tomorrow & she is still in the ICU. In 2 days she was able to talk & 3 days she can eat already but lately she has  ups & downs. She was supposed to have a surgery to put a valve in so the liquid in her head can drain, but the other day she had an infection in the part where the tube to drain the liquid in her head was & yesterday with blood.

 

She had a CT scan & after I gave her dinner which seems like she's ok though she just ate little. The doctor told me I have to prepare (which means the worst) They moved her, which is not sharing anymore, its more isolated. Is this really seriously like a life-threatening again? She needs to take antibiotics that will last 2-3 weeks.  Is there anyone who had experienced this? 

 

Any thoughts. Thank you.🙏🙏🙏🙌🙌🙌

[Macca]

Hi Del,

 

Welcome to BTG.

 

The one thing about this site is that we are all survivors. We've all been in that seemingly hopeless place, but have come through it.  The statistics do indeed paint a rather gloomy picture, but there is hope.

 

When I was first admitted, my family were told to hope for the best but expect the worst. I was in a coma. I had to have a lumbar puncture and they were going to give up on me but decided to get in a top, top, consultant to give it one last go. On the third attempt it worked.

 

Without that, I probably wouldn't be here today. My aneurysm was an irregular shape and they were going to coil it but thought they couldn't do it. In the end, the lumbar puncture was done and I was coiled. If it hadn't been for that consultant, they were going to do an operation going in through my skull, and I don't think that would've been pleasant or as successful.

 

I am now nearly ten years further on and in good health, generally speaking.

 

Sadly there are no guarantees, but that doesn't mean there isn't any hope.  You can only be there for her, and hope she has the resilience to pull through, and provide the support she needs now and will do in the future.

 

I think it will be true of everyone who reads this, that we are with you and hope for the best outcome possible, and that everything that can be done is being done.

 

I wish you and your Mum well, and please come back on and post again if we can be a release for your pent up emotion and a support mechanism by lending you our experiences of what it is like to go through a Subarachnoid  haemorrhage.

 

Best wishes,

 

Macca

[Daffodil]

Hey Del, sounds like your mum may have the complication of hydrocephalus which I did also, and I had an EVD placed whilst in HDU which stayed in for a fair while and yes I was pretty unwell with different complications. It’s a very unsteady precarious state and family told me it was hard to be witness to this. 

 

SAH itself is life threatening and the first few weeks afterwards by no means is anyone out of the danger zone and complications can and do happen, we are all testament to that but also that the textbook and reality can be very different sometimes. Miracles do happen and odds get beaten. 

 

Your mum will be feeling battered and bruised and confused from the bleed , the swelling of her brain will mask her,  the operations and the medication and now an infection makes things ten times worse for that so it’s a step back here which is a common thing in the early days of a significant SAH  .

 

It is  good they have picked this infection up and isolated her but yes of course it’s very serious as she has been through so much with the trauma of the SAH. Keep talking to her, even when I was out of it I could feel and know love, it really crossed the senses, and hope and indeed prayer always has a place.

 

Like Macca says we send healing and positive wishes to  your mum and for also strength and courage to you as well to just keep hope where it is still offered. 

 

Daff