The saddest thing I think I've ever heard..

daveg

One of my wife's colleague's son is in hospital and is critical after an accident at home. He has been in intensive care for some weeks. When he was admitted the doctors said he had no chance. However he came around and had progressed to such an extent the doctors had called it a miracle. However he was still in a coma and was on a life support (to help his breathing).

My wife called in to see the family in hospital today to learn that the doctors had turned off the life support twice yesterday and the child managed to breath on his own for 15mins, however they had to reactivate the life support as he had stopped breathing. The doctors have taken the decision to turn off the machine tomorrow and if he doesn't breath on his own he will pass away.

My thought's and prayers go out to him and his family. I hope he pulls through for tomorrow and I know we will be saying a prayer for him tonight.

Keedowah

Sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed.

Tar.Aldarion

Ah that sucks...
Hope it goes well.

Hermione*

I'll be praying for him.

When my sis was on a ventilator, they tried to 'wean' her off it to an extent, testing her ability to breathe on her own. Since she'd brain damage, they couldn't overload her body so when her stats seemd to be weakening, they'd put her back on the ventilator. Or else they'd set it up so that for every 5/6 breaths taken, she'd take two on her own and the ventilator would take the others. It was a really slow process though.

Fast_Mover

wow..thats so sad!!
fingers crossed indeed!!

Dave!

Why would they turn it off? If he managed to breath twice then is that not a sign that he's making progress so they should continue doing that kind of thing? I don't know any of the details, but from that it sounds a bit early to turn off the machine...

I wish him the best anyway, and his family. Terrible situation.

Peace

Jeezz, poor kid.

What happened him?

The Hill Billy

I'll say a prayer.

daveg

DaveMcG I've no idea to be honest. It seems a bit sudden to me too but I'm sure if there were any hope the Doctors would hold off.

Hermione*

From experience, they may turn the machine off if the patient can not sustain breathing on their own for a substantial period of time. Also in those situations, there's no possible way of calculating how long it might take for a patient to gain that much strangth, and possibly pressure for beds is an issue. When my sis was in icu, there were about twelve/fourteen other patients in that ward, and it was a specialised icu serving patients from all over Ireland.

daveg

Kev (peace) to be honest I'd prefer not to specify what happenend as it was a freak accident and I'd hate for the family to think there awful situation were been discussed on an internet forum. I know the chances of them seeing it would be slim but still...

ferdi

kind of puts your own problems in perspective.

daveg

Hermione* wrote:

From experience, they may turn the machine off if the patient can not sustain breathing on their own for a substantial period of time. Also in those situations, there's no possible way of calculating how long it might take for a patient to gain that much strangth, and possibly pressure for beds is an issue. When my sis was in icu, there were about twelve/fourteen other patients in that ward, and it was a specialised icu serving patients from all over Ireland.

I know that's just the way it is but that's fúcking disgraceful. Mary Harney and the other muppets have a lot to answer for, for the state of the health care in this country.

Peace

DaveMcG wrote:

Why would they turn it off? If he managed to breath twice then is that not a sign that he's making progress so they should continue doing that kind of thing? I don't know any of the details, but from that it sounds a bit early to turn off the machine...

Wouldn't they have to have the families permission to turn off life support? Also wouldn't they have to prove brain stem death ie. no brain activity?

You can easily tell I'm not well versed in these situations.

Hermione*

daveg wrote:

I know that's just the way it is but that's fúcking disgraceful. Mary Harney and the other muppets have a lot to answer for, for the state of the health care in this country.

I couldn't agree more with you. Especially since I know had my sister not been so very blessed to get her bed the day after her accident, she'd never had survived. It took exceptional care and extremely expensive equipment to save her. Some patients in that icu had waited three weeks or more to get a bed. That's why I'm convinced a lot of people are dying in our health system needlessly. I'll never forget the day I realised there was a dozen beds in an icu serving the entire country. I just went cold.

singingstranger

Fingers crossed, guys.

Ruu_Old

Hope it works out for the better.

Rockdolphin

Em, I'm no medical expert, but why are they turning off the machine ? People have been in comas for years and eventually come around

Zillah

Surely he has to be brain dead if they're gonna turn off the life support? And if he is dead, and they're just keeping him breathing, then its probably best he be let pass and let someone who has a chance to take a crucial bed.

N90user

Fingers crossed hope everything becomes ok

Heyes

DaveG my thoughts are with your family and your friends family. Hopefully he will have the strength to maintain his breathing. Fingers Crossed X

daveg

Spoke to my wife this evening. Seems the first brain scan looked good. The second, in depth scan, revealed massive brain damage. It's gonna take a miracle tomorrow.

Hermione*

Zillah wrote:

Surely he has to be brain dead if they're gonna turn off the life support? And if he is dead, and they're just keeping him breathing, then its probably best he be let pass and let someone who has a chance to take a crucial bed.

IIRC they can't be certain on that until he wakes up.

daveg wrote:

Spoke to my wife this evening. Seems the first brain scan looked good. The second, in depth scan, revealed massive brain damage. It's gonna take a miracle tomorrow.

If it's any consolation (and probably not much), my sister also had suffered massive brain damage, so much so that when she was first admitted to hospital her brain was haemorraging. Miraculously it all cleared up eventually. We don't know how, nor can the consultants explain it. She was one of the lucky ones. So many families we met at that time didn't have our good fortune. I pray your friend's son will.

Skyuser

OMG this country. They only want to turn it off to get the bed from under him. It should be the parents decision !!!!

CathyMoran

Best wishes for tomorrow - I know how it is like to watch someone you love in a coma with suspected brain damage (my mum had a massive brain haemorrage) - I really do hope that it works out for the best.

scojones

Fingers crossed. Things like this put everyting in perspective.

drdre

omg hope he breaths by tommorrow.its so sad.please do keep us updated

Heyes

Any update DaveG ?

daveg

Havn't heard anything tbh. No news is good news I suppose. Will post back if I hear anything.

drdre

daveg wrote:

Havn't heard anything tbh. No news is good news I suppose. Will post back if I hear anything.

thanks

Zillah

Skyuser wrote:

OMG this country. They only want to turn it off to get the bed from under him.

You say that as if they are personally going to gain something from it. The doctors don't gather up beds and bring them home at night. Any bed they free up is a chance to save someone else's life. Christ, try to see the bigger picture.

The Hill Billy

DaveG:

Still thinking about the kiddie & the family.
My thoughts are with them.

Hill Billy

daveg

Zillah wrote:

You say that as if they are personally going to gain something from it. The doctors don't gather up beds and bring them home at night. Any bed they free up is a chance to save someone else's life. Christ, try to see the bigger picture.

I think he, like the rest of us, was more referring to the state of the health care system rather than those working in healthcare (Doctors etc). The situation the goverment have left us in is nothing short of appauling.

daveg

Just got an email from my wife. They turned off the machine yesterday at 3pm. Doctors came back 20 mins later expecting him to have passed away. He was still breathing on his own and was still doing so when they passed on the news last night at 12am!!!!!!!!

Let's hope he can keep it up.

Hermione*

That is fantastic!!! That's a really good sign that's he's able to sustain breathing by himself for so long. Please God the news will stay good.

Tar.Aldarion

daveg wrote:

Just got an email from my wife. They turned off the machine yesterday at 3pm. Doctors came back 20 mins later expecting him to have passed away. He was still breathing on his own and was still doing so when they passed on the news last night at 12am!!!!!!!!

Let's hope he can keep it up.

Hey dude, that is class news. I came in here expecting worse.

deltablaze

Sweet, good luck to him.

deisemum

I hope the news is still positive. It's dreadful watching a loved one in a coma. As much as you hear how bad the health service is here it still comes as a shock to actually see how bad things are when you've a family member in a serious condition. The medical staff (sounds like the same place your sister was in Hermoine) were very good to my dad when he was in a coma and they do the best they can with limited resources.

Brendan Gleeson was right to speak as he found regarding the health service. The politicans don't really care as they're the ones who'll be queue jumped if something happens to them.

Mary Harney was at a function and had a dizzy spell. She was rushed to nearest hospital (under 2 miles away) and was seen straight away while other patients had to sit or even stand (not enough seating) for hours waiting to be treated.

2 tier Ireland.

Heyes

thats fantasitc new daveg , i really hope he pulls through.

daveg

It is with great sadness that I post that Jamie quietly piecefully away today. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. RIP Jamie. He really was a fighter....

Ruu_Old

Thanks for keeping us up to date, dave.Its a shame alright, but he died peacefully. RIP.

CathyMoran

Am really upset to hear that, my sympathies go out to his family and friends.

Hermione*

Thanks for letting us know. My thoughts and prayers are with Jamie and his poor family. RIP.

Elessar

Condolences. What age was he? Did you find out what caused the accident?

Tar.Aldarion

Ah no.


He just didn't want to put that info on the net Elessar.

Heyes

Aww DaveG im so sorry to hear that. My thoughts are with you all

scojones

This is sad news indeed. My thoughts are with his family

daveg

He was 8 Elessar.