Grandfather

[shmegs]

i have wrote to u two times before about my grandfather and his condition and i have asked about surviving. Well he has had some ups and downs the past couple weeks. they removed the skin that was dead on his chest, but the skin graphs did not take, but it was his own skin and the graphs that they did on his hands,arms,fingers were his own skin and they took fine. the doctors have said that he has only a 5% survival chance at this time because he now has developed an infection in his blood and he has some time of fungal infection also. he has fluid in his lungs that they are going to be removing. he his still in the induced coma. they have him on a few different types of antibiotics for the infections but they dont seem to be helping all that much. they keep switching the anitbiotics and they said that he developed the infection in while he was in the hospital. they said that his red blood cells are now eating at his white blood cells and its making his platelets low. if they woke him from the anisthesia would he get better faster? is the anithesia making it harder for his body to fight the infections? he is still on the respirator also. is there anything in our opinion that the doctors are missing? and what do u think about all of it?

[Jeffrey S Guy, M.D., M. Sc.]

I'm sorry about your loss.  It sounds as if he fought a heroic fight.   The bleeding is called a coagulopathy and can be from his body's failure to make new factors that clot blood or over whelming infection.

God bless your grandfather, you, and your family.  

[shmegs]

thank u for ur help...unfortunatly my grandfather just past about an hour ago. his heart stopped beating. the doctors said his body was very tired and he fought all that he could. they said that he was bleeding from his ears and mouth. is that unusual?

[shmegs]

thank u for answering my question. i just heard that the doctors put a tube into my grandfathers chest to drain the fluid in his lungs. they told the family that this is the only and last precedure that they can do for him. they have done everything in their power. but i have another quick question for u. even though he is on a respirator, doesnt his heart beat on his own? so if his body is truly ready to give up then his heart will stop beating right? i dont understand how he could have gotten a fungal infection? where do u get a fungal infection? if they take him off the antibiotics and the respirator they said he will die by morning. i honestly think that the doctors dont even have any idea what is going on and how all of this keeps happening. they just keep telling all of us that they dont know how all the infections are happening. they had to change all of his i-v's becuase they said they were infected. with all of his conditions and symptoms what in your person oppinion do you think his chance of survival is?

[Jeffrey S Guy, M.D., M. Sc.]

Answers to your questions:

>>"if they woke him from the anisthesia would he get better faster?"

No. He would be suffering in pain.  Furthemore, he would struggle while on the ventilator making it very difficult for the machine to breath for him.  


>> "is the anithesia making it harder for his body to fight the infections?"
No.  Burn patients are very prone to infections because the cells that are used to fight infections don't work as well when someone is burned.  

>>is there anything in our opinion that the doctors are missing? and what do u think about all of it?

He is very ill and his chances are not good.  Keep in mind the issue of a 5% chance of survivial.  People don't 95% die and 5% live.  His result will be either live or die.  Five percent is a 1 in 20 chance.   If they do nothing his odds of not surviving are 100%.

The family needs to consider what are their collective expectations and what would your grandfather want.  Just to have someone live is not always a good outcome if they spend the rest of the life on a ventilator, on dialysis, in a skilled nursing facility.   If the family expects him to return home and be independent and perform the activities he did prior to being injured-- that might not be a realistic expectation.