As long as
there's a heartbeat, don’t loose hope.
Sandra
cannot control her emotions when she explained the past three months in the
hospital as a bystander to her father who is in coma. Her father and mother met
with a road accident on the way back from a vacation trip. It was a fatal
accident and father sustained head injury and mother had multiple fractures. Sandra and her sister, Fiona are lost and
don’t know the way forward. No one has any clue for this conundrum. It was the
doctors in the Rehab who suggested my name for the long term care consultation.
Riddled with uncertainty, a coma is one of
the most frightening injuries, at least in part because it deprive you of the
ability to communicate with your loved one in the coma. Loosing hope is nothing
but natural in the long wait. But the good news is that people can and do
survive comas. Over the last 15 years in long term care with
a specialization in coma management, we felt a strong need to fortify and
bolster the family and friends morale, thereby providing the best chances of a
wake-up from deep sleep.
Most family members find the hospital
experience a "roller coaster ride through hell” especially in a situation
like this. Hospital ICU is where bad things happen--people get very sick, or
die. Making this more frightening is that doctors and nurses often speak in strange
languages. For example, people don't have a bruise, they have a
"hematoma"--which is exactly the same thing as a bruise. Doctors and
nurses are very busy and may be impatient with family members who are not sure
of what questions to ask. Doctors tend to give quick, short news with lots of
medical terms. No wonder dealing with the hospital can be a very frustrating
experience. It doesn't have to be this way but the reality is that no one
really cares.
Treating a coma patient is like running
a long race. It is like this that you don't sprint a 26-mile marathon. One may
start out intensely, but have to pace yourself for the long race. Remember,
head-injured patients go through some phases. If you understand them, you will
be better able to pace yourself. So, I think it's
important for family members to get educated about coma rehabilitation. You
need to read as much as you can about coma.
This is a very tough time for family
members. Family burn-out is the norm. Do you start getting anxious when you get
close to the hospital? Do you avoid going to the hospital or feel guilty about
these feelings? Don't be ashamed if you feel this way--everybody does. It is
important to talk to others about your feelings. This is when you meet a
long-term care specialist. He/she can help you to understand what's going on,
and to make plans for the next phase called long term care. The long-term care
specialists can plan for the discharge and the next phase of rehabilitation.
Now lets talk about what to do when a comatose
person gets discharged from the hospital. Often this is a very big event for
family members. Definitely a great occasion but the concerns are very many.
Remember, it's just the beginning of a very difficult phase. The physical
injuries (basically the bruises and broken bones) can heal very quickly. But waking
up from a coma can take years. When someone goes home, many family members
think, it will just be just a couple more months. In truth, it's usually a lot
longer. Family with its inherent limitations cannot provide such care. So we
need to put him in a proper long-term care (rehab) facility.
I wanted to tell the world, as long as there's a
heartbeat, don’t give up on hope. With
this perspective, I strongly feel the comatose person expects a need for
communication, support, care and company. It is important that we empower the
friends and relatives of the comatose person with a slew of information in
dealing with the care of the comatose person. Families
who are going or have been through the experience of having a family member or
friend in coma have many needs. Do not
despair.
(Continue..)
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