Relative in ICU with heat stroke and is not going to make it

[SmokeyMountainRain]

Posting for traffic. Has anybody been through this? Close relative, relatively young 50s), was found incoherent last Wednesday. Rushed to hospital straight to ICU as she'd fallen into a coma. They've kept her asleep, tried to wake her twice and she cannot breath on her own whatsoever. They've ran repeated scans which show due to the heat stroke damage the part of her brain that tells her to breath is severely damaged. They've pretty much said she's incompatible with life now and we will have to turn the machines off this week unless by some miracle she wakes up. Her core temp was 41 degrees for 4 days, she's now at 40. Not responded to any medication, antibiotics etc.

She wasn't even doing anything strenuous. Just in her flat watching telly. Has anyone been through this? Does anyone have any advice? I don't even know what to think and feel it just seems so so cruel. No brain bleeds or blockages on the scan. Substantial brain swelling and damage.

posting for traffic as can't see any similar threads

Any advice or miracle stories please send them my way. Thank you x

CAN POSTERS TAKE THEIR PETTY SQUABBLES AND ‘NEED TO HAVE THE LAST SAY’ ELSEWHERE PLEASE?

I find it incredibly distasteful.

As someone in there 50's this is heartbreaking 💔

Some are landlords desperate for it not to be an overheating flat that has caused it Hence the mental gymnastics and refusal to believe the consultants. Six years ago ppl would have had no trouble believing a consultant who said it was Covid.

There is a woman in ICU and her relative is here looking for support. Please just drop it. Start a new thread so all the landlords can go to that one. The title of this thread won’t attract landlords anyway.

I agree. At some point this lady was living her life. It’s so sad.

Update: It did indeed turn out there was more to this and the context was highly relevant.

My actual comment:

Kindly, there's a great deal of missing context here, medical conditions for one.
I'm sorry for your loss.

A little blunt maybe but I'm an ex-ICU nurse and needed to know more to give advice.

What? How can you update on behalf of the op?

I was pointing out to the quoted OP that their outrage was misplaced based on the subsequent posts.

im so confused, I can’t see the op has said anything about there was something else behind this she’s been very clear that as much as this lady had other conditions it didn’t contribute,

They tried tirelessly to get her temp down and it wouldn't come down at all

No, it doesn’t. None of it needed to be said, and it doesn’t help OP. At all.

I've read all the recent updates and I'm going to come off here now. I posted to get some support here, not to be called 'cruel' and 'outraged' when I've been nothing of the sort.
I do want to say thank you to everybody who has written kind words, stuck up for me and just been there to help. I really appreciate it. I may pop back in a few days to update. I'm aware it's very rare for this to happen to a lady in her 50s. But it's happened and I cannot change that, and I will not take medical advice or other differing opinions of those on here when 2 separate consultants have told me and my family the same conclusions. I am preparing to say goodbye to my auntie and going to spend some time with my family while we process everything.
Look after yourselves and please, please be careful in the upcoming heat. I'm going to be much more aware of this in the future. X

and @ThreadGuardDogand all the others who have been so kind trying to keep the arguments at bay, thank you. I read newest comments first on threads and anything that's labelled unhelpful I haven't read.

thank you x

Wishing you love and strength OP. Thinking of you xx

So did my relative. Bilateral pneumonia and on a ventilator for over three weeks (trachy for the latter bit). Told no prospect whatsoever of even a tiny bit of meaningful recovery. Still made an almost full recovery. Doctors can and do get it very wrong, especially when they're not brain specialists. It's a very complex organ.

Wishing you all the best, take care of yourself. Your post will help others, I know it wasn’t the intention but you have raised awareness so thank you. I hope the next few days will pass ok, I know it will be painful but you cannot do any more and neither can the doctors sadly :(

@SmokeyMountainRain I'm so sorry that your relative is in this condition and that you and the rest of your family are having to deal with it. Please ignore all the nasty commentators here. This is a terrible situation and no one should minimise it in any way. I, like many on here, and I expect all your family, are hoping for a miracle, but expecting the worst. Wishing you strength to endure it.

They’re not just dealing with brain injury though - there is multi organ failure and bilateral pneumonia that isn’t responding to treatment. There’s always hope until there isn’t but I think overall it’s a very challenging condition and OP is wise to prepare herself for the worst.

All I'm saying is that given my family's experience, I'd always advise giving it time. Don't let them rush you.

Wishing you all that is peaceful and gentle @SmokeyMountainRain - you’re in my thoughts x

But if none of those things apply then I don’t think the landlord is at fault.

Wishing you and your Aunty well over the next few days, and hoping that the time brings you peace.

I think most of us are able to understand that underlying illness and poor housing make it harder for people to stay cool and contribute to the conditions that cause heat stroke. Nonetheless this isn’t the time to be squabbling about them.

I’m grateful to you, OP for posting and making raising awareness of how serious heat can be, it’s certainly something I shall keep in mind in future. I’m probably older than your Aunty and when I hear warnings of extreme heat, I tend to think they apply to other people. Your poor aunt, probably did too.

Hopefully the OP has left this thread now and is with her loved ones. But I would suggest that anybody posting anything other than kind words now, looks again at the title of the OP and thinks whether their response is appropriate.

Clearly, you've not properly read the op's updates and I'm inclined to think the ICU consultants actually treating her are better placed than strangers on the Internet to determine what the chief causes of her condition are.

The COPD is a new, incidental finding and the not the cause of her condition which is heat stroke.