To please, please ask for your positive stories of people getting well having been on HDU/ intensive care

[grobagsforever]

DP was admitted last week and moved to HDU last night. They don't know what's wrong. He has fluid on belly, some kind of infection and impiared liver function. There is talk of moving him ti ICU. We seem to be waiting on endless tests. He is 35 we have a three year old and I am 7 months pregnant. I need him . Please tell me your positive stories of recovery from these situations.

In 2008 my ex boyfriends dad collapsed with an unexplained illness after suffering for a week or so with what he thought was flu and a very bad cough.

He was blue lighted to hospital and stopped breathing for more than three minutes. We were told emphatically to prepare ourselves for the worst as he was very unlikely to survive.

He was in ICU for two weeks and hospital for more than two months in total. He had a massive infection in his lungs and had ended up with swelling on the brain.

6 years later he's still very much still with us and fit as a fiddle.

A mum at DS' school was in your position - 8 months pregnant with her youngest when her DH ended up in ICU. Says she called them at midnight crying and begging them "just please don't let him die."

Their youngest is 16 months now, and her husband made a complete recovery. Looks healthy enough to fell an ox.

It can be fine. Truly, it can. Thinking of you.

My PIL was in ICU two years ago for 10 day with septicemia and organ failure. Fit as a fiddle now. Amazing recovery. Your DP is in the place where he will get the most intensive, specialist monitoring and help. Try to be positive- it is very scary.

Thank you. He is sleeping now and his heart rate is coming down a bit.

My FIL was in ICU two years ago with septicemia and organ failure.
He is fine now, fit as a fiddle. It is scary but try to be positive. He will get the best care and careful monitoring to help him get well
(I posted ths once but can't see it so am re- doing it. It it shows up twice that is why)

Yes, my friends husband was in ICU for weeks with an illness they did not understand, never got fully diagnosed but did get better gradually over about 6 months.

My son was readmitted at 3 days old to the neo-natal ICU even though he was 8lb 10oz at birth. He had a very severe infection but got better on IV antibiotics. He got home at 11 days old and never been seriuosly ill since.

Its so scary but don't lose hope. Can anyone help you with your 3 year old. Good luck with the new baby.

I know two people in their 30s who were in HDU with pneumonia, both made a full recovery.

Best of luck OP, it must be terrifying for you.

Dp is napping again and heart rate down more. Thankfully the nurses aren't making me stick to visiting hours and I have been here all day. So sad, several paitents on here have had no vistors

I've geen in hdu twice and icu once.
I have brittle asthma so although I will always have it,, I recovered from the admissions.

Oh crap they are screening for bowel cancer. 35 ywar old vegetarian s who don't drink or smoke do not get bowel cancer surely! Please, please let it be viral.

No stories to tell, but here with a hand to hold. Your dh is in the best place for him right now, I'm sure they'll be testing for all sorts, so try not to worry. Will be thinking of you and sending you positive thoughts .

They will be testing for everything grobags, just so they can rule it out. Offering you a hand to hold xxxx

Just try to think of screening as 'ruling out'.

DD spent a week on ITU before Christmas having been on a normal ward, then discharged and rushed back in within 24 hrs. The care that she got on ITU was fantastic. All the care was 'pro-active' rather than re-active and not even that on the normal ward. On ITU, doctors did ward rounds 3 times a day, nursing was 1-1, physios came 3 times a day, medication was given on time, tests were done and results acted upon. Shame we couldn't say the same for the ordinary ward because if it had been like that DD would never had ended up in ITU.

Your DP is in the place where he will get the 'gold standard' of NHS care.
Hopefully he will turn a corner soon and they will get to the bottom of the cause. Look after yourself too. He will need you to look after him when he gets out of there.

Hi there, I have been a nursing sister on icu and hdu for over 20 years.

It's the safest best place for your partner.
I am biased of course, I think that it is wonderful.

He has every chance of a full recovery.
He will need you so make sure you eat & drink regularly also take breaks.

Write down any questions you may have for the nurse looking after him.
They are always happy to take time out to explain things to you.

All the best x

My brother in law went into ICU 6 weeks ago today, with organ failure due to some kind of viral infection. He nearly died on admission, and several times in the week following as his organs continued to struggle and they couldn't clear up the infection. I am very happy to say that He came out of ICU on Friday, completely fine. He didn't even need to go to HDU, he went straight from ICU, to a normal ward, to home.

I hope your husband improves over the next week and that things settle down. It's a terrible time to be worrying about things like this, I am pregnant as well so wasn't even able to go into the hospital to be with my husband and inlaws as they were concerned about me catching something during my first trimester. Keep well x x

Thank you everyone. Your stories really do help

I have two; my dad had typhoid and again useless GP told him he wanted another week off work (he'd just come back from Spain). That was over30 years ago and he's still here.

DH was in ICU and then HDU after a heart OP. He was really quite poorly but left hospital only a week later.

I have my fingers crossed for you OP.

I have a lovely non-interestingly one. I was pregnant on a ward then rushed to hdu. Hairy night, fluid retention was crazy and heart rate sleep in over 140... but woke up quite alright next day and kidneys settled over the week until I was realised. Went from panic stations to ok quite quickly and unexpectedly.

DF was in ICU when he was 54 after a major heart attack. He's 79 next month!

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I have everything crossed for you.

My best friend is a physio who works with neuro patients, often in ICU. She says the people in intensive care are actually often there because they have a good chance of survival, which is why they invest so much in their care. If the doctors believed chances of survival were lower, they may not suggest intensive care. I probably haven't articulated that very well, I'm sorry. Hopefully it makes sense.

Hi I another positive story here, I've been in intensive care twice, once following a car crash, the second 18 months ago following the emergency birth of my ds2 at 24 weeks (he's fine too ) I arrested in theatre and was ventilated and unconscious for nearly two weeks. But thanks to the skill and dedication of the nurses and doctors I'm fine. It really is the best place to be, they take no chances and are the experts in getting people well.
Definitely try to think of the tests and procedures as finding and fixing what needs to be sorted.
X

My dad (61) was in ICU for a week last year. He had been to GP because he'd been rasping when breathing, GP gave antibiotics for throat infection. But he deteriorated in the next few days, and eventually woke up in the night completely unable to breathe at all, mum called an ambulance and off he went.

After a very scary night and a confusing few days, it transpired that he had had a silent heart attack up to two weeks before (he is diabetic, apparently diabetics often don't feel any pain from heart attacks). The fact that the heart attack had gone unnoticed and untreated had led him to have all sorts of lung problems, too much fluid etc and some other weird heart stuff going on that I still don't understand. But the ICU team were fantastic, he slowly recovered, and was let out after about a week - now he's 100% fine!

It was so awful seeing him hooked up to so many machines. I kept thinking that at any moment the doctors were going to say 'of course he doesn't need all these machines now, he's fine, he'll be off home today!' and it just kept not happening. It doesn't help of course that in ICU there ARE some people in truly critical states, and when you are there twice a day for a week visiting, you see a lot of family members where you realise their loved ones haven't made it. It seemed unreal that my dad was in there with all those really really sick people.

I am thinking of you, I hope your DH has as positive an outcome as my dad.

Hope your DH gets better, the screening for bowel cancer will probably be just to rule it out. My DH was I. Hospital a few years ago and they basically had a tick list of things to rule out. His turned out to be an appendix attached to his bowel, once out he made a full recovery but they too where looking for cancer.

Just want to reiterate, all the staff on the ICU where my dad was were just utterly fantastic, and I totally agree with comments upthread that it really is the gold standard of NHS care.

While my dad was in the ICU, my grandmother was on the geriatrics ward of the same hospital, recovering from a fall. The two units were worlds apart. The geriatrics nurses were doing their best (though incidentally they were noticeably younger and less professional-seeming than the ICU nurses, though of course this could have just been my one off experience) and of course with so few nurses to so many beds it was an uphill battle. We very rarely saw or got to speak to any of the doctors.

I know it's hard to see it this way, but count yourself lucky that no chances are being taken with your DH, and he is getting the best care and attention right now.