My mother is only 49!!! She's been in ICU for a month. She was in renal failure (donor kidney) and preparing for dialysis when she had a perforated colon (she has diverticulitis). They did emergency surgery May 23rd. Because she was on steroids for her kidney which made her auto immune. She was sepsis and it's been a rollercoaster of events. One thing after another, 2 steps forward - 1 step back. She has recently been transferred to a new hospital closer to me, the last hospital was being shut down. Her vitals have all been stable mostly and has been off suppressors. She's tolerating dialysis fine. She has been intubated and awake and has had the trach for a week tomorrow. Her white blood count in the beginning was around 38! It was finally trending down and floating around 15-16 and today I went in and its up to 25! And a new infection in or around her liver!!! She looks awful, malnourished and depressed (of course). She's on a ng tube but they wanted to put in a feeding tube in her stomach for more nutrition. She looks 80 (remember only 49). She was also losing a lot of weight before the emergency surgery and was down to 95lbs (she's 5'1") I can't imagine what she weighs now but her face and head look like a skeleton. It's so upsetting to see her suffer like this. She also has bed sores! May need surgery for them down the line. She's not moving much. She can move her fingers and one hand a little more than the other, her toes, shake her head and I saw her lift her shoulder once. Can she bounce back from this?
Sugarplum - the bed sores were from the first hospital. The new hospital took pictures and I just happen to see them and ask why theyre so bad because the first hospital told me she has a "small sore" and its actually huge and needs surgery! I'm not sure what to do about it because they were shifting her body every couple hours that I was there but they couldnt put her on her side because she was intubated. I'm not sure if this is something that couldnt be prevented or did they not move her enough?
What have her doctors told you?
My Mom had a perforated intestine and almost died because of it.. at 77 it was really hard for her to recover. Her neurosurgeon said that it would take a normal and healthy person an easy 3 months to recover....