brain damage after a cardiac arrest

[Santiago110]

My sister had a spasm in her heart which caused her to have a heart attack, the minute she arrived at the emergency room she went on a cardiac arrest, she was resusitated twice, according to the dr.'s it took approximatly 20 min. before she came back. Due to that lengh of time she has severe brain damage. She is able to open her eyes but will not response to nothing else. Dr. said if she makes it thru she will be in a complete vegetation state. After a brain damage, is there anything else that can be done? How can I get more information about brain damage, and what to do?

[caregiver222]

It takes at least three months of observation after the event to make any sort of prediction as to the degree of recovery. The doctor may be correct and he may not be.  The brain is very resilient. When mjy mother was dying the chief chancre-mechanic informed me she had "no brain activity".  She was a quadraplegic able to move a single finger and she continued to communicate with me with "one tap for yes" and "two taps for no" up until the night before she died.

[LarryJameson]

Caregiver is right. While it's true that brain cells die due to lack of oxygen, you just don't know which cells actually died. To say vegetative that quickly seems irresponsible but, I was told my wife wouldn't survive! That was over 19 years ago and she's in the bathroom putting on makeup right now as she gets ready to go to work - something else they said she'd never do.

In fact, we have since written Brain Injury Survivor's Guide. Never give up on your sister and never let her give up, either.