Shock room or what?

What a total nightmare.😢
Seriously, from February 7th to the 19th, I spent basically my entire life stuck in the ICU rooms of a hospital in Chicago.

I’m gonna try to describe how bad things actually were—at least, as much as I can manage while typing with just one finger. My other hand? Well, that’s pretty much the reason I ended up in an ICU room in the first place... or, to put it formally:Intensive Care!

It’s gonna be tough to write because I’m still in this state... honestly, it’s almost exactly how it was before. Basically, nothing has changed.
So why even bother posting?

Because today is the funeral for a young woman who was my neighbor in the next bed over. She went into a coma and never woke up.

Man, I would give anything to tell her mom and kids about her final moments, but physically, I just can't do it.

I've had enough for now. I'll try to tell the whole story from the beginning if I can find the strength. My doctor is actually coming by my place today, hopefully to check on me and hand over my discharge papers... we'll see.
Bye! Let me know what you think or if you've gone through something similar. I'd love to hear your stories.

So, my diagnosis just came back:an aneurysm somewhere in my brain!

I don't have a scanner handy, so I'll try to type out the main details from my medical records.🙂

🙂

Sarah?
Good grief, just tell them to their face instead of using someone's final moments to ramble on about the internet.

Either I’m losing my mind or this whole world has gone completely to hell.🙂

Matthew Morris28 said:Sarah?
Good grief, just tell them to their face instead of dragging someone's final moments into an argument about the internet.

Either I’ve finally lost my mind, or this whole world has gone totally downhill fast. 🙂

Seriously, go back and read what I actually wrote. Where did I ever say I was going to gossip about someone else's life or death?

Screw you, Sarah! Can people seriously not write anything meaningful anymore without turning everything into a joke? Thanks, but no thanks. I'm way too old for this crap!🙄
Besides, how on earth am I supposed to know anything about some stranger's family when I only saw them for a split second while they were unconscious?😲

Besides, how am I supposed to know anything about someone's family when I only caught a glimpse of them while I was out cold?😲 [/B]

Ben, honestly—when I was unconscious, I didn't even recognize my own family... and I'm still convinced they were actually there, if that makes any sense.😢

slyviper47 said:Because I'm actually at a funeral today for a young woman who was my neighbor in the hospital. She was in a coma and just never woke up.

Sorry, gotta quote myself because.......🙄

slyviper47 said:Sarah, you're driving me crazy!

Whoa! What did they put in your IV if you've suddenly started swearing at everyone? 🤣

Seriously, what are you doing? You can't just dive into writing entire novels right away...
Everything is going to be fine, just take it one step at a time, you impatient soul. 🙄
You'll get everything written eventually, just rest up and recover a little first. Right now, you aren't able to handle the whole circus like you used to, so please don't even try... it'll all go back to normal slowly enough. The forum isn't going anywhere, don't worry. No need to force it. 😉

And as for you bunch of disloyal trolls, don't you dare get slyviper47 worked up with your nonsense... if I see any of you bothering her because she's acting out, I'll start handing out bans left and right. 😁

She isn't someone to mess with. 😉

Thanks 😉

Ben, just when I finally have a topic and some actual inspiration, I can't even get going. 😁
If I were actually up for it, I’d start my own blog and just vent about... you know, what they've got pumping into my IV right now...😂😂

Come on, don't leave me hanging... spill the tea about that shock room experience... what actually went down? Who gave you such a scare? Did they have to perform surgery on an aneurysm? Like, did one actually burst or what? And did you end up dealing with any nasty infections afterward? Were you stuck on a ventilator or anything? Or did they have you strapped to the bed for safety?... I'm asking because I've been through something super similar, so I'm genuinely dying to know "what happened in AJ SI JU..."

Maybe I’m just being slow, or maybe I totally missed the point, but I read this:

slyviper47 said:Man, what a mess.😢
It's because today is the funeral for this young woman who was my neighbor—she was in the next bed over in a coma and just never woke up.

Look, I’d love to tell her mom and kids about her final moments, but honestly, it’s just physically impossible for me to do that.

So you decided to vent here because there’s nowhere else to go? Or am I wrong?

Sorry if I misread the vibe, but this feels pretty tasteless to me. Posting someone else's final moments on a forum...

But whatever... go ahead, get it all out.

A few months back, my wife was in the ICU following brain tumor surgery. Ventilators, feeding tubes, catheters—the whole works. There were more monitors in that room than in the IT firm where I work. The staff really went above and beyond; I suppose they actually take the term "intensive care" seriously. They even hung a mobile with her favorite colors, tracked down some specific scents she loves—some plant, I can't quite recall—and when the weather cleared up, they carefully wheeled her out in her chair, tubes and all, just to get some air. Everyone was incredibly composed and kind. It was fine. Most importantly, there was a constant presence of medical staff. On a standard ward, you might see a nurse four or five times a day, but here, they were everywhere. They actually had the time to focus on patients and walk families through the procedures. Honestly, listening to them explain ventilator functions, pressure limits, and alarms was strangely educational. My wife even mentioned hearing the final cough of a patient in the next room. A surreal experience, all in all.

stormylynx14 said:First off, there was way more staff there than anywhere else. On a regular floor, you might catch a nurse for five minutes a few times a day, right? But here? They were everywhere! And they actually had time to look after the patients, too.

Exactly! You totally nailed the point. But wait—there’s a catch. That’s why I even started this thread. See, ICU/recovery rooms aren't all the same! They vary wildly. I’ve actually been through three different kinds myself.

1. The "real" deal would be the post-op recovery area. You know, when you're waking up from anesthesia and you're fully aware of everything, but you can't even blink... if you can manage a tiny tongue movement, that's basically how they know you're conscious while you're still intubated. That's when they have those breathing tubes down your throat or nose.

2. Intensive Care—basically just like a specialized ward. This is where you end up either coming straight from the ER (like I did) or being moved from that first stage after a procedure (yeah, me again).

On both of these units, visitors are a total no-go. If you're fully awake, maybe you can see people through a glass partition, but that's it. These areas handle all sorts of emergency cases that need a diagnosis before getting sent off for tests or prepped for "the big thing." Then you get sent back once it's over, depending on how things go. In these two types, you are 100% dependent on the nurses and the guys on the tech team. Seriously, they have male staff there too. One guy in unit #2 actually had the same name as one of our forum members... I couldn't stop laughing at first!

3. The third type of intensive care... it's almost like an open ward. You can actually have visitors, and you might even sneak in a little radio or a "hidden" cell phone. 😁

I started out in that third type, but after a bunch of tests and prep work, they stripped me of everything... took my phone, my rings, my wallet—everything. They made me sign a paper and handed my stuff over to my family.

So I hung out here for a few days to get settled in, and then one morning they whisked me off for surgery. They claimed it was way less invasive than traditional brain surgery because they were just going to "plug" this bulging blood vessel before it popped... they explained it to me using this analogy about an overinflated bike tire.

During those few prep days, I was easily the youngest 😁 and the only one actually moving—well, enough to make it to the bathroom and handle basic hygiene. That's when you still feel like a real person, you know? Still, I had to fight for every single little "trip" I took. The nurses were constantly hovering and tattling to the attending doctor if I tried to sneak off to the restroom on my own! So I asked them, what's the big deal? The doc says if I happen to take a tumble, things could end catastrophically. I asked him point-blank, does that mean I'm gonna die...? ...Yeah, he said so.

So I told him, so what? I mean, sooner or later, we all go, right? 😁

So, they finally "prepped" me—which is just code for jamming a catheter in my pen and dragging me off for another brain CT scan before heading to the OR for the non-invasive procedure. Since I was supposed to be under full anesthesia, the plan was to head straight back to "my" room once it was over.

But then things got messy... and...

He meant injecting the stuff directly into that dilated vessel in my brain using a catheter through the femoral artery.
I wasn't even surprised, honestly. They’d done the exact same thing before to pump in contrast dye during an imaging scan so they could pinpoint the "spot" better. See, those first plain CT scans just showed some vague shadow without really showing what it actually was. It could’ve been a tumor, and if they couldn't tell, there was no way they were moving forward with any invasive procedure.

That initial part—getting the contrast through the groin artery and up to the head—wasn't even that bad. The only annoying bit was having to sit there glued to a sandbag afterward, not moving an inch... because if I ripped that patch off my groin, I’d be bleeding everywhere.

Why go through the femoral artery? Because it's the biggest one they can use to get things done.

Right from the jump.
See, my veins and arteries are super fragile, so they’ve always had a bit of a "struggle" whenever they need to draw blood for labs or prep me for anesthesia. They managed to pull it off this time, though. The last thing I remember was staring at the monitor, watching this little "line" traveling along some graph... and then suddenly, they popped the mask over my face. It was actually pretty easy, honestly, since I didn't have to get a tooth pulled. My teeth are still all there!
And I looked up and saw it was 11:00! 😉

The next thing I remember... someone’s saying I was fully conscious, talking about it being around 3 AM, and then someone mentions me opening my eyes...

I CAN'T... I can't move a single muscle, and there's a tube in my mouth?

They’re pulling on my tube and everything is going sideways... I can't breathe... not with my own lungs. They’re rushing to fix it and using some kind of suction device to "clear" my lungs (?)... I can hear them... talking about how much phlegm is in there.
Someone is telling me to cough... I CAN'T

I'M CHOKING.... I can't even make a sound.

They finally cleared me out and I can catch my breath, but they aren't taking the tube out of my nose yet...
ANOTHER PROBLEM....

Those "experts" honestly made me sick. I can barely even keep one eye open right now, let alone make a real statement.

And they have the nerve to ask about my stomach ulcer.... NOPE. NEVER. At least I can still say "no" to that!

But seriously, how are they getting fresh blood pumped straight through their veins???? Where is that even coming from?

So I’m just sitting here looking around, right? And then I hear this "sister" figure talking to me like we’re actually related, asking if I'm awake and what my room number is.
I see about seven beds over there... plus all the comments... they're moving me to another room where it'll just be two of us. So I'm not even going back to my old room... and it's already late at night... and one sister is staying up with us. The other guy is male... and honestly, he doesn't look lucid at all. He's still totally intubated.