Stroke(basil ganglia) and being comatose

[ckaye]

My brother had a stroke in July/06 on his 50th birthday. The stroke is at the site of the basil ganglia. This stroke has left my brother comatose. His temperature is irregular. He does opens his eyes. Whenever he lifts his arms or hands or seems to be listening to what we say, the doctors tell us it is involuntary movement. He is breathing on his own. He does have a trach and a feeding tube. He has been cared for at several different hospitals and all of them say there is nothing more we can do. In September, my brother was being moved from one place to another and when he got to the other place (nursing home) his stomach was swollen and he began to spray blood out of his trach and mouth. Needless to say he could not stay at the nursing home. We moved him to a hospital where he was stabalized. The doctors advised the wife to call in hospice. Then moved to another hospital where he is now. Hospice more or less gave him days to live. About a week ago, the nurses advised we call the family because he was going. Well, this Sunday, it will be two weeks and my brother is still hanging on. When hospice came in IV's were discontinued. All meds are given through the feeding tube. I don't like the fact that he does not get fed. The doctors say it will only prolong it and this is the quality of life for him (vegetative state). Is there anything that can be done with my brother. The last CT scan revealed no functional brain activity. I do not see that far away look in his eyes, it seems he is really hearing me. I would like for them to do another CT scan. What can I do, if anything?

[NMcP]

I totally feel your pain!  My sister (who is only 48) had a major hemmoragic stroke on August 12.  She had brain surgery a week later.  She was discharged to an acute care facility 2 weeks later. She has been on the feeding tube and a trach from the start.  She was getting stronger and began to respond to us with head nods, toe wiggles, she would wave, give us various finger points, thumbs up, etc.  Just this past Thursday they deemed her well enough to move her to a "skilled care facility".  Less than 24 hours later, she was in the emergency room.  She had respiratory failure and required cpr apparently due to the lack of suctioning that resulted in a mucous plug.  She is now in Harborview in the ICU.  She has been there almost a week.  She has a bladder infection and pneumonia.  She is not responding to pain or anything.  We have been told she is just too wiped out to really do anything.  So here we are once again....just waiting and praying for her comfort and inner peace.  

I totally understand the confusing feeling of grief, despair, faith, questioning, encouragement, discouragement and yet hopefullness.  You totally want your loved one to live.  Yet you greive and question what you (and they) have lost and you are still afraid of all that you still can lose.  It's like you are totally emotionally paralyzed; afraid to move too far one way or the other.  And no one else really gets it.  I would never wish this upon my worst enemy!

[caregiver222]

You should try Ambien (the sleeping pill). There is literature regarding the use of this pill to restore people from a vegetative status. Do a google search. It will work (if at all) within 30 minutes. The bad news is the coma often returns after the drug wears off.

[honey286]

I feel everyone's pain. I have a 58 yr old aunt that was not totally in good health but not in poor health.  She has high blood pressure and was recently diagnoised with diabetes. She never took medication for her blood pressure cause she couldn't afford it. She survived breast cancer and was thinking about suicide when she found out she had macular degeneration she didn't want to live without her eye. She got passed that and now this, she had a massive stroke at a new job she started, no one really knows how long she didn't have oxygen. She fell and had a black eye and at first the Dr's were saying she had a broken neck bone. The most frustrating this is that we never get a straight answer and right away their first recommendation is DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). The Dr. said she had a blood clout in her brain and had to do surgery because she was bleeding too. This was done within 7 hr's of her stroke. The Dr. said her chance of survival was 5% and if she did she would never be the same and it would be very poor more likely in a vegatative state, and she lost all ability of her right side just from looking at the CT scan he gave that diagnosis.  Well it's been 7 days and she is still here. On saturday which was 4 days after the initial event the Dr. wanted the family to pull the plug her eyes were dialated at a 6.7 and at a 10 that would mean she is completely brain dead and said we had less than 24hr before that happened. We called all the family and she is still here and her eyes are now dialated at a 4.  I don't understand how someone could be this brain dead and moraculously become unbrain dead a few days later without them regenerating new brain cells. Maybe they are not explaining it to us right. After Saturday she was not responding to anything touching her feet her arms.  Where as before then she would move her shoulder and her toes and legs. She has yet to open her eyes, which they said won't happen anytime soon or at all. Her prognosis is poor and they don't think she will survive. I think she is a strong women and can come out of it but like another person said we are on a rollercoaster of emotions right now and could just be thinking the doctor is full of **** because it's our loved one.  Someone help me understand these dr's. I work in the internal medicine department and I still can't understand them. I know they prepare us for the worst and hope for the best.

[honey286]

I forgot to add that the dr's said she had a second stroke withing the fourth hr of the first one and that she is developing a second one in the back of her brain. I'm not sure what to think of her survival. Not only will it be life altering but will she survive this one, I think I have a lot of faith in her and hope but the dr's just keep giving us negative advice. One dr. said he washes his hands of her because there is nothing more he can do and we are not pulling the plug like he wanted and he said we are going against her wishes not to be a vegtable but he is yet to say she is one. He wouldn't even do the test to see if she had brain activity because he said he knew what he would fine, that's not right he can't assume he needs to do the test, I believe in miracles.