Suzi’s Blog

My head is all over the place recently so my facts might not be straight but I’ll explain things the best I can. In short, my brother is in a critical yet stable condition in hospital – there has been little change since he went in on Saturday which is not long from being a week ago. The long version of the situation and my thoughts are after the cut, for those that wish to know it.

Late last year my brother went to the doctors because his leg was giving him a lot of pain. It was found that he had a blood clot, Deep Vein Thrombosis, and he had to inject himself with something to thin the blood. No further treatment was given because it wasn’t considered serious enough.

A few weeks ago he had a fall and afterwards he started to get a nasty cough which was later found to be Pneumonia. His other leg was starting to swell also. On Saturday an ambulance was called because he had trouble catching his breath. After oxygen, he could speak properly but was taken to hospital.

As my mum was told to call the hospital after my brother had been there for a few hours, she decided to go out knowing she’d be back well in time to phone up. She hadn’t been gone long before a police car pulled up outside our house. My dad answered and was told by a police officer that my brother had taken a turn for the worse and someone needed to go to the hospital. My dad went with the police to where my mum had gone, and she was picked up and taken that afternoon.

Although my dad came home soon after and was in contact with my mum, I wasn’t able to speak to her until Wednesday as she had stayed at the hospital. The details me and my sister were given about our brother’s condition were brief and it was only when our mum arrived home on Thursday that we were told the full extent.

My brother was taken to our nearest hospital. While there his heart had stopped and he had stopped breathing twice. He’s been unconscious (sedated and medically paralysed) since Saturday and was moved to a larger hospital in another town – he might be moved to a city hospital but he’s too ill to at the moment. It’s possible his leg will be amputated but their main concern is his heart after he had an embolism.

As of Friday there is slight movement and his eyes are open. Sometime soon he should be getting a Tracheotomy but he’s still weak – it should help him be more comfortable when he is well enough to be woken up again. As far as I know he has been on a ventilator, but he’s breathing unassisted right now. It seems as though it’s better, but it could still go either way.

I’ve never made it much of a secret how I feel about my brother, and it’s rarely complementary… but I have never wished this. I question my faith and yet on Saturday I prayed he would be okay. Whatever he has done, I would prefer him home and well than how things are. I want him back for him, for my mum, for the rest of my family, and for me. He’s only 35…

It’s hard to concentrate recently. If I think of anymore to say I’ll add it later. Thanks for reading.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 17th, 2009 at 12:49 am and is filed under Suzi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.