heart attack and brain damage

[sfatak]

On Wed 7th of April 2010. My dad suffered major heart attack, at home luckly, we were there to see him in pain he was going through.  Since morning he wasn’t well and felt some chest pain, 1.30 mid day, dropped from bed and turned his color and eyes turnover, we rushed him to hospital, while perform CPR , fortunate he was able to breadth,  but had little difficulty to talk.

By the time we got to hospital they perform more CPR and hurried him to theater for bypass operation, after the operation, I managed to see him and he said he is on severe pain on his back. They took him to ICU, he was on breathing ventilated and a heart pump, inserted to pump, to allow his heart to recover, also was given all the anti coagulants, medication to rise up his BP. Since his BP and heart bit wasn’t stable.

He was sedated for 6 days to ensure he rested, as well to control the medication, etc
On 7 day that they turned off the sedation. However, he didn’t show any sign that he is waken up, the only thing he does moving his head (left /right) and slightly moving his eyes but it’s obvious that irregular moves without any concentration. the dr/nurses aren’t able to remove breathing ventilator since there is lack of communication between the brain and the rest of the body. His move you could tell that his not comfortable with ventilator.
Until this point, they done CT scan echo scan etc. which only tell us that there is nothing strikingly wrong, they don’t seem to prove that things are ok.

We are trying all type of stimulants, calling his name etc etc. So far it doesn’t seem like much is working.
I was hoping that someone might be able to point me towards any advice from others who are experienced and what they did, some recovery stories, things of this nature, and of course any medical literature on this particular topic, unfortunately i have not been able to determine what the medical profession use to describe his current cond...

Any tips/pointers greatly appreciated. Please help me out

[gmachris518]

The irregular movements could be from the sedation.  For the 19 days that my Dad was under the morphine his body made all kinds of involuntary movements.  His legs would draw up into the air, and his arms would reach for the ceiling, along with telling bizzare stories of what was happening to him at night when none of us(family) were around.

He had to go through physical therapy to learn to walk again, and to regain his muscle tone, but he did fully recover.

[sfatak]

Just came from the hospital, thank god my dad mange to move his hand/legs, he is sort of trying to do something, but are random moves, when I start talking, he stop moving and I think he is listening to me.  But I have limited time to access the ICU and the docs/ nurses are not happy with his movement, they do worried that he could pull out the ventilator, so they reduce sedation just to relax him as they told me.
My concern now is.
-Is there is any lack of brain damage since its irregular moves without any concentration on his eyes, also he is in the lowest degree of resending.
-what is the side effect of long term sedation.
- Until when he will be on ventilator
We still wait for CT scan. but I would appreciate if there is any tips.
I do appreciate all those who prayed for my dad condition, special thanks to those pointed any valuable information, god bless you all, I asked god to help and calm all those who suffer same position i am facing.

[gmachris518]

In my family I have two people who have been through a situation that is somewhat close to what you're writing about.

First of all my Dad.  He had a major anyurism start leaking from his main aorta and when blood gets into the body cavity it causes severe pain, so the medical team gave him large doses of morphine to ease his pain.  He went through surgery, and afterward it took 19 days for him to return to any resemblance of normal, in that up until that time he told of bizzare happenings, and he failed to recognize his family members and he was right down mean to everyone who ventured into his room.  He did go on to recover, and had a pretty normal life until he contracted alzheimer disease, and is now deceased, not remembering any of his 7 children, or his wife by the time he died.

The second person in my family is my oldest sister.  She contracted pnuemonia while vacationing in Florida and upon returning home she was unable to breathe so her husband took her to the nearest ER where they put in a breathing tube.  However, when they inserted the breathing tube they went too far and punctured a hole in her lung, causing the outer sac to inflate with air, which put so much pressure on her heart that it caused a heart attack.  While she was down with the heart attack, not breathing, etc.  she also suffered a major stroke.  It took her about 6 months to wake up, she was  always on life support, and when she did wake up, she was no longer the same person.  She now is like a young child.  She can function, but not in the same capacity as she did prior to the medical foul up, and she will never be the same.

I guess my point is, you never know what you're going to get back when a person is taken near to death, and then brought back.

[martikadragoon]

Sometimes it takes a while for a person to come around when they've been on sedation. Give it a couple days to see if he recovers and becomes aware enough for the vent to be removed.