Facts About Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States After Severe Brain Injury

My brother age 28 had a heart attack at work. We believe he was unresponsive for about 18 minutes. His coworkers found him and did CPR until the ambulance arrived which was 4 minutes later. Unfortunately due to us not knowing how long exactly he was unresponsive there is brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain. This happened about 7 weeks ago now. The doctors say he will be in a vegetative state. There is body movement and eyes opening but non on command. We do believe he hears us because we have asked him to move his arm or squeeze my hand and to us we believe he is listening because he has done it when we ask. Unfortunately he has not woken up but we continue to do exercises on him and talk to him. He also has a fever that comes and goes due to brain damage doctors say and the only way to control the fever is with ice packs or the cooling blanket. If any one knows of some one that has come out of this I would greatly appreciate the good news. We know this is going to be a long process but our family is hopeful that a miracle will happen.

One week ago today (June 5th) my 67 year old mother suffered a choking accident and cardiac arrest and is currently in a coma (today is June 13th). My father did everything he could to help her in the moment. She was not breathing and her heart had stopped when the ambulance arrived. They were able to start her heart again on-route to the ER. She had been placed on a respirator immediately and had been heavily sedated. On Saturday (6/8) they started removing sedation and since she has not been given any. All of the neurological response tests performed showed no signs of voluntary reaction / cognitive brain function. The respirator is really doing most of the breathing for her but there are moments when she over breathes. She has had a fever since Saturday that hovers around 102, and have been told this is not from an infection but from brain damage. Her EEG came back with no brain activity. We are holding on to hope but have been told that she will no recover from this. We are trying to encourage the Dr's to give her alternative supplements and high dose vitamins to see if anything will help. They are refusing most, for FDA and liability reasons. We have also been told that she can only be on a respirator for about 2 weeks, which leaves us with one more week to decide if we want to have a tracheostomy & feeding tube put in instead. Then, we have to make additional decision about her care, and also how to afford everything. None of my family members want her to suffer or live a terrible quality of life. Has anyone experienced a similar situation, with a favorable outcome and partial/full recovery? I should also note that she was transferred from the ER to a local hospital that DID NOT have a neurologist on site! After questioning them to perform the EEG, they told us that there has been no neurologist there for months and she would have to be transferred to another hospital for that test. (They then moved her by helicopter to another ICU.) How can a patient with brain trauma be transferred to a facility incapable of appropriate care?!?

on 17th june 2018 , my brother is 20 years old, had an electric shock that made his heart stopped for almost 20 mints and because of this his minimally conscious state now for almost 10 monts due to lack of oxygen was deprived that time his heart stopped. we can see improvements for sure he breaths now by his own and he blinks his eyes randomly and move his hand and leg by his own but still no following the commands :(

On November 20, 2018, my fiance age 39, had a car accident and had to be airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical due to a brain injury and a broken hip in three places. He had surgery on November 26, 2018, to repair his hip and on November 27, 2018, physical therapy came in to do therapy on him and when he got up out the bed he became dizzy and nauseated, so they laid him back down in the bed. He kept complaining of being nauseated and later begin to vomit. He got up to go to the bathroom and fell on the floor, about 2 to 3 minutes later he began to have a seizure and stopped breathing for quite a period of time, which caused him to have an anoxic brain injury because of the lack of oxygen to his brain. On January 15, 2019, I noticed that when I moved around in the room, he would follow my movement with his eyes. When I asked him did he understand what me and what I was saying to blink twice he will. He does not follow commands like move your hands, legs, or arms, but he will move them on his own at times. Do you think that he will have a full recovery after this anoxic brain injury or does it depend on him?

What about a person who has been in a minimally conscious state for 3 years, what is the prognosis of their recovery or will they be able to fully recover when they are around the mid 50s?

Is there anything the family members can do to help?

This may sound very very strange, but I'm feeling very lucky right now. I have been reading the comments from people who have close relatives going through varying degrees of brain damage and the effects it's having on them and their families. My father has just recently had a massive heart attack, which doctors believe may have induced a stroke. My dad's heart was stopped for about an hour and his brain deprived of oxygen for all that time. The emergency services attended very quickly, and after working on him for a long time, they managed to re-start his heart. They assisted his breathing and got him off to hospital. After assessing him in hospital, the doctors told us that dad had suffered irreparable brain damage and there was no hope of survival. He was breathing on his own and had had an oxygen mask on. The first time I saw dad once they had got him sorted, it was a huge shock as I could see the catastrophic damage that had been done to him as a result of such a major heart attack. My sister was very upset as she had performed initial CPR until the paramedics arrived. She said dad looked so peaceful when her and mum first found him, and they had thought they were too late as he had passed then. Now they had brought him back, and his body was under so much strain. His lungs sounded like they were full of fluid (because they were) his chest would rise and drop dramatically with every breath, he never regained consciousness throughout the time. He seemed to have an odd reflex type movement; he seemed to jump suddenly and sometimes would groan. He looked distressed; his body was working incredibly hard, there was no brain response to any test the doctors did. My dad was 80 years old, had always been in reasonably good health and this had happened so very fast. When I saw my dad, I told him it was ok to go, I willed him to give in to it and slip away because up to now he had led a good active life, unhindered by disability and I knew if he did indeed survive this, his life would be constant care, and he would hate it. I work in the care sector, and I have seen some long drawn out deaths which are very distressing for the patient, and very distressing for the families despite doing everything you can to make them as comfortable as possible. Twelve hours after being admitted to the hospital, my dad's dramatic and labored breathing suddenly calmed and he took his last breath, finally slipping away with all his family around him. I truly feel this was the best outcome for my dad. After caring for some people who have survived heart attacks and strokes, seeing how their daily struggle can affect the quality of their lives, I didn't want that for dad, and I knew he wouldn't want it either. I think it is a valid consideration to listen to the doctors and nurses who see this kind of thing on a daily basis, consider what you would want if it were you on that hospital bed. You know your loved ones better than anybody; some want to go on living no matter what, some would say they would rather pass than live like that. I look after one lady who is in her 90's, and she has made it clear she does not want a DNR in place because she doesn't want to die, and on the flip side, my husband has told me he would rather i "switch him off" than let him live needing constant care. For me with this very recent event with dad, I questioned what was the kindest thing to do? Instinct was to resuscitate, but dad had essentially died, peacefully in his bed, we then got him back, saw him appear to suffer for a further 12 hours and die again! I am hoping and praying that he had no awareness of the last 12 hours in the hospital, but unfortunately, nobody knows if he did or didn't. Those 12 hours were the longest of my life and probably of his too, but as deaths go, it could have been a lot worse, so I am grateful. It makes you think about what family member would want in these circumstances and to let people know what you would want also. This takes the pressure off the surviving family members as they will be confident that they are making the right decisions on your behalf. Nobody wanted dad to die obviously, and its very sad understandably, but I know he would rather it happen like this than suffer for months or years with severe physical and mental problems associated with brain damage. I know he can now rest in peace