Brain Damage

[albert74]

My father had surgery to remove his gall bladder. The surgery went fine, and after 2 hours in the recovery room he was then taken to his regualar room to rest. We spoke to him before going home and he was fine. at around 11:30 p.m. the nurse found him unresponsive and he was not breathing they estimated for about 5 minutes. Now my father is in ICU and the doctors have done numerous test on him and they can't seem to explain why he stopped breathing. The CAT Scans do not show any trace of a stroke and the EKG do not show signs of a heart attack. the doctors tell us that there is damage to the brain, but they won't know the extent until my father regains consciousness. He is non responsive to voices and the little movements that he makes that doctors tell us that those are just reflex actions. What can we expect from all this? should we get a second opinion? are there any other treatments that can be done other then just waiting for his brain to start reacting to something? Please give me some advice.

Thank you

Albert74

[albert74]

My father had suffered a stroke 4 years ago. do you think that do to the morphine, and antibiotics that were given to him after the surgery that, that might have caused the problem? and if so is there anything else that can be done?

[albert74]

Thank you very much for responding.  I will ask the doctor about these drugs, and see if they can or can't be applied to him. Again, Thank you!

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

I'm sorry to hear what happened.  Unfortunately, there can be events in the medical field that are really unexpected and have little explanation, and what happened to your father maybe no exception.  Off hand, I can think of causes like an embolism (blood clot that lodges in the blood supply of the brain) or a transient arrhythmia (problem with the electrical conduction of the heart).  However, these would have shown up in the scans and EKG respectively.  For stroke patients, neuroprotective agents such as citicholine or piracetam can be given to prevent further brain damage, however I'm not sure if these drugs can be applied to your father's situation.  I suggest you discuss this treatment option with your father's doctors, and I hope everything will eventually turn out OK.  Regards and God bless.