Hasnt woken up yet!!!

[JanetLP]

My Brother in law fell over and hit the back of his head, 24 hours later was rushed to have surgery to stop bleeding as he is also on Warfrin. He, has Diabetis, Now he is still asleep from that surgery 8 days later!!!, Now on a ventilator with a lung infection and antibiotics, He is 71 years of age? Any comments or recommendations most welcome as we are very worried. he was quite normal before the operation to stop bleeding in the skull!!! thank you

[JanetLP]

thank you for your reply. The neuro surgeon who operated has been away all week and back tomorrow and the nurses say they will most likely do a brain scan and see whats happening. He is in ICU, and no movement at all from him, only occassionaly his feet twitch. His pupils dont show anything at all. They havent sedated him he just hasnt regained consciousness since they operated. They had to do a Trachiotomy on him four days ago. I will ask my sister to get the white cell count checked. thank you for your reply and hope to hear back again from you.

[JanetLP]

thank you for your reply. The neuro surgeon who operated has been away all week and back tomorrow and the nurses say they will most likely do a brain scan and see whats happening. He is in ICU, and no movement at all from him, only occassionaly his feet twitch. His pupils dont show anything at all. They havent sedated him he just hasnt regained consciousness since they operated. They had to do a Trachiotomy on him four days ago. I will ask my sister to get the white cell count checked. thank you for your reply and hope to hear back again from you.

[ed34]

unfortunately your brother in law had a small infection at the time of surgery and it has now taken a hold of him due to his weakened state. The important thing is that they get the right antibiotics into him. There are broad spectrum antibiotics given at the start, that usually have a small effect. However, in the meantime they usually suck some fluid from the lungs and grow cultures, to see if it's viral or bacterial. They then decide on the most potent antibiotics to fight that particular infection and infuse it. They keep patients quite heavily sedated when on ventilators because they tend to panic and try to pull the tubes out. It is not unusual to see no changes for 2 weeks. There are a few things you can inquire about to get some idea if he has improved or remains the same. As long as things aren't worsening over the last few days, he's in with a good chance. So, question one, the amount of fluid being suctioned from the Lungs, is it decreasing each day, and is the colour of that fluid looking more normal. Has the ventilator been increased in the last few days. You are talking about pressure and concentration. How is his white blood cell count doing?