Best wishes please! {Update}

medtran49

medtran49

Well-known member
Craig fell and broke both bones in several places in his lower left leg about 3 inches above his ankle Friday evening. He had surgery Saturday and ended up with plates, screws and a rod. Yesterday was really bad. He was disoriented and kept asking what happened to him and what were THEY doing to him when I got there just after 8. Things got worse after that. He went bat sh!t crazy early afternoon, ripping off monitoring lines, trying to rip out IV lines, screaming about being electrocuted, trying to get out of bed, eventually not responding to or recognizing me. Finally got him calmed down some and they gave him some Ativan. Then, he had another mini episode later. Late afternoon/early evening, we had to change his bed linens as he'd lost control of his bladder during his episode, and reposition him because he was so close to edge of bed that his uninjured leg kept falling off and his Casted leg wouldn't stay in correct position because of him moving around so much earlier. That was awful. He screamed every time we touched him. Finally got that done, but his blood pressure was sky high after that so he got meds for that and some pain meds. They think he had a reaction with residual anesthesia effects plus the heavy doses of pain meds he was on, along with being in a strange place. So, they reduced the dose and frequency of pain meds and doc gave orders so Ativan could be given as needed. He finally fell into a peaceful sleep before i had to leave, not allowed to stay after 8, plus I had to come home and see to pugs and kitties. They turned on the alarm on the bed so they'd know if he tried to get out of bed again.off. I'm afraid of what I'm going to find when I go back this morning.
 
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Oh my God, Karen! You must have been terrified and horrified! I'm sure they will figure it out, probably have by now, and Craig will be fine.

Sheesh!

Lee
 
I'm so sorry to hear this Karen. Good thoughts, best wishes and gentle hugs to both of you.
 
Thanks guys, he's still out of it, doesn't know me, hallucinating. The one good thing though is bandage is off his knee and the incision looks good.
 
Hopefully they will be able to figure out the reason for the hallucinating very soon. That has got to be scary for both of you :(.
 
Karen, are his doctors reassuring you that this is all temporary?

Lee
 
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medtran49 said:
Thanks guys, he's still out of it, doesn't know me, hallucinating. The one good thing though is bandage is off his knee and the incision looks good.
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Confusion for a day or two is quite common after surgery.
Sounds to me like there is something else going on, perhaps with a med they may be giving him for pain.
If he were going into septic shock, they would certainly know that I hope.
 
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Oh Lord. God be with you both. Pray, as well that we will.
That is a shock to the body, and is normal for his actions. Anesthesia does weird things.
Again.....Tina and I will pray for you both.
 
Thanks all. He kept getting worse and got violent yesterday because we wouldn't let him get out of bed and I told him no about taking him home. He kicked a nurse in the stomach, then shortly after punched me in the nose and tried to punch the same nurse when she stepped up after he punched me, but she was able to pull back since she had warning he might do it. He had been extremely verbally abusive to us before that, calling us not very nice names for women. They had to call in a huge guy who finally got him to calm down some and they gave him a larger dose of Ativan. Psych saw him this morning and diagnosed him as acute psychosis, delirium, put him on an antipsychotic and upped his Ativan. He was a bit better this morning, knew me the whole time I was there. I had to come home to work this afternoon/evening, as I had just started a new job 3 weeks ago and obviously can't lose it. He grabbed hold of my hand and kissed it at 1 point, then did some more hand holding and a bit of trying to snuggle on my shoulder. He still had a few really agitated/restless episodes, but not as bad as yesterday. He actually ate a decent amount of lunch today, no breakfast though, too drugged out. He ate a little bit of breakfast and lunch yesterday before the episode.

They believe he had a reaction to the heavy doses of morphine and Dilaudid he was on, plus the anesthesia. They eventually stopped all the narcotic pain meds since he kept getting worse. The trauma, the surgery, anesthesia, and the narcotic reactions, hopefully just overwhelemed him and threw him into a psychotic state. They've done a CT scan to see if he had a stroke even though he recognized me, could respond appropriately, had good strength, and could even speak intelligibly at times, and it was negative for stroke.

I'm okay, nose bled a bit and I was tingly on my nose and right eye yesterday afternoon/evening, with a pretty bad headache. Nose is tender, still a little tingly today and still a little headache, but not too bad. I was just in shock right after though as I've never been hit in anger, much less in the face.
 
"They believe he had a reaction to the heavy doses of morphine and Dilaudid he was on, plus the anesthesia".


That'll do it.
Wow, it's nice hearing that they got all that taken care of.
... and that you're ok. Ouch.
 
Karen, it sounds as if Craig has turned a corner, thank God! I hope you have a support system to help you!

Thank you for sharing updates with us.

Lee
 
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Karen... Put all the bad behind you, and the good will come to you; but
only with Prayers.
Tina and I went through it with our daughter at 17 years old.
Seizures and violent behavior; shot up with ativan and dilantin.
Come to find out, she was allergic to dilantin, only after sending her to New Hampshire
to a brain injury / behavioral center. They weaned her off dilantin, and put her on tegretol, and we had her back home
in three months later.
Tina and I can relate what you are going through. God Bless!
 
Ahh that all sounds so tough on all of you. More best wishes coming your way Karen.
 
Sorry, haven't been on much and this forum doesn't show up in "new posts". He's still not doing well. His mental state is just not there for the most part. Sometimes he's kind of sort of here, but not all the way, sometimes he hallucinates various things, sometimes he goes way back in time, like 15-25 years, he has no short-term memory at all, doesn't even realize how long he has been in the hospital. Speech is slurred, even during "good" periods. Unintelligible at times, not making sense at all at times. He gets angry and frustrated because we won't let him out of bed and with communication issues. Restless, agitated, then with periods of sleep so deep you can barely wake him up. Keeps insisting he can walk, though he can't, he can barely stand up and has to have anywhere from minimal to maximal assistance to do that depending on his mental state. They can't figure out what is wrong with him. He has good strength and no deficits, other than he sometimes forgets to move his left arm (side of broken leg) when they are doing PT exercises to keep him strong and tends to lean to that side when they have him sitting on edge of bed. He's had a couple CT brain and they were okay, last about a week or so ago. Did an MRI brain this morning so don't have results yet. He is also scheduled for EEG, as he has either shaking chills or tremors or seizures at times. Says he is cold, we cover him, and then he throws them off, so don't know if he is really cold or not. Can't keep a gown on him either. His neuro exam is fine, other than that teeny tiny neglect of his left arm. when doing various exercises. He was a bit better today after he finally woke up, but got petulent and ugly when I wouldn't bring him home when I had to leave for work. But, he's been doing better before and then nearly totally regressed back to like he was when he first went crazy, happened again earlier this week in fact.

I'm just so tired and so discouraged and afraid. And, now, there are a bunch of new COVID cases coming into the hospital I was told today. One floor is nearly full of them, so I've got that to worry about now.
 
I'd be losing my mind if I were you medtran.
That's AWFUL to be going through that with all the stress and worry.
They did tell you it's likely POCD, right?
That can last a long time.
You're certainly in my thoughts and prayers.
 
No, they haven't mentioned that, although we were talking about his leg today and 1 of the docs mentioned something about the ortho doc not wanting to put him under general anesthesia again. He cracked his calcaneus thrashing around, but it didn't separate so doc doesn't want to do anything with it. Also forgot to mention, his spatial orientation is off at times. He'll reach way back past his plate when he is eating to pick up some food or he'll try to sit his glass down in the middle of his plate. Sometimes he can feed himself, sometimes he can't so he's supervised when eating.
 
Sass Muffin said:
I'd be losing my mind if I were you medtran.
That's AWFUL to be going through that with all the stress and worry.
They did tell you it's likely POCD, right?
That can last a long time.
You're certainly in my thoughts and prayers.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear from Karen, even though her news is scary.

I had to look up POCD. Sure sounds like it to me. And, yeah, it could last months. DAMN!

Lee

What are the symptoms of postoperative cognitive dysfunction?
Manifestations
Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD)new cognitive deficits that appear postoperatively (impairment of: memory, ability to combine tasks, psychomotor dexterity, etc.)
Deliriumcognitive deficits, hallucinations, fluctuating state of consciousness, and other manifestations
 
My one hope is that he gets to that stage where he can begin PT/OT, and have a road to complete recovery.
I have a feeling it's going to be a long one.
Two things:
Take care of YOU right now, medtran.
That's very important.
Also, I'd be looking into some sort of legal advice as well.
Didn't even want to mention that, but.. there you go.

Please please keep us updated.
Once again, take care of yourself and the 4 leggers at home.
❤
 
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Sass Muffin said:
My one hope is that he gets to that stage where he can begin PT/OT, and have a road to complete recovery.
I have a feeling it's going to be a long one.
Two things:
Take care of YOU right now, medtran.
That's very important.
Also, I'd be looking into some sort of legal advice as well.
Didn't even want to mention that, but.. there you go.

Please please keep us updated.
Once again, take care of yourself and the 4 leggers at home.
❤
Click to expand...

Wise advice, Lolly!

Lee
 
Well, I got the great news this morning that he has had a stroke in the PCA distribution, which is causing the speech and spatial issues. It's apparently not too bad though at least. I told the docs either Sunday or Monday that I thought he'd had a stroke because of the way his face looked while he was sleeping the day before, but they didn't think so because his neuro exam as far as strength and cranial nerves was fairly normal. He's still bouncing back into the past as far as memory. Thinks both his brothers are alive and healthy and they both died years ago with lung cancer. I don't know whether to remind him they are gone or not. Guess will discuss that next time I see 1 of the docs. I was just so, I don't know what, when doc told me about stroke this a.m. even though I already suspected it.
 
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