My 11 days in ICU and 8 days on life support with a long road ahead:
My day started out like any other day! My eldest boy wanted to race daddy to the lounge. This always is the best way to start! But that’s where in this case it started going south fast!! I slipped and got a cut to my elbow. I bandaged it up and went off to work. That evening I attended midland hospital who gave me a few stitches. All seemed ok.
The next morning at 3am, I was set to go to York for a music video shoot! So I washed the small wound wrapped it and went to work. After a really long day I noticed that I started to deteriorate with excruciating pain and felt unwell. I went to sleep and 2 hours later woke up in the most excruciating pain, shaking, vomiting and sweating.
My wife Rach called an ambulance but they didn’t perceive it was life threatening so said they didn’t know how long it would take to get to me and it could be many hours. So she woke both kids and drove me to Miland hospital. I had become symptoms wise quite bad. so I was rushed through straight into emergency.
My vital stats could not be controlled and a call was made to transfer me to RPH via patient transfer as midland were unsure what to do.
Little did I know my window of life was down to 4-6 hrs. On arrival at RPH a junior doctor met me and in a miraculous instant, knew exactly what this was! Within minutes there were 15-20 medical staff around me and were planning my emergency surgery to save my life but this would come at the cost if major muscle, skin and soft tissue removal in my entire arm or possible amputation.
While getting to theatre, I continued to deteriorate. It was expected I would go to ICU for extra care as a precaution, but during surgery, I deteriorated so much i had to be put into an induced coma and put on lots of life support, from a ventilator, to heart and everything else in between. My lungs were struggling, my heart was struggling, my stomach stopped absorbing anything whatsoever, extreme fevers and medications to support all my vital signs.
I woke up about 3 days later... after being put into an induced coma I remember waking up from the gstric tube being removed. I could clearly hear the doctor saying ...Daniel open your eyes....open your eyes Daniel. Then I became very sick, vomiting everywhere and aspirated. It caused pneumonia and I had to be put straight back into a ventilator. I was rushed back to surgery where I could hear the doctor saying this might take his arm or even his life! I had surgery every 2-3 days to remove any further infected skin, muscle and tissue.
During this, I could hear dad talking and Rach vomiting from stress and anxiety and crying. You can see in the pic how many machines, cables and lines were keeping me alive.... my heart was kept ticking, lungs and various other body parts needed assistance in order to stay functioning. Rach was telling me today that several times during this coma I lost function of my stomach and my lungs were very very week. The bottom of my lungs had collapsed.
My body had zero control.
I had no Ideas what was happening? I remember hear voices coming from far “Daniel I need you to open yours eyes”
And I did,
Somewhere in there I felt like actually died, I remember hovering above my own body. Felt like I as been pulled towards a bright light!!!! the next 2 days were very rough!!! In and out of conscience ness and being so out of it I didn’t even know what day it was
Woke to pain that I had never felt before!! I couldn’t even feel my arm?
They have taken about 60% of my arms tissue and muscle.
I was able to meet Bryce the Doc who’s quick thinking saved my life. It was special moment shaking his hand and talking about how he got to the conclusion so fast! True hero!!
My recovery so far.....
This can be split into two sections, emotional and physical.
I’ll start with Emotional as it’s prob the hardest for me to talk about.
Like I said earlier, when you wake up from something like this rare condition you have no idea what’s going on. For me it was still the same day I went to EMG. So to be told I lost 8 days took me a little while to process.
The hardest part to process is why? It’s seems like an opened ended and obvious question but it’s actually quite hard to wrap my head around.
I’m gripping onto all the possitive things around me, My incredibly strong wife, family, friends and the Nurses are angles! But I still have to ask how on earth can this be part of the plan.
To be strong, fit-ish and an active musician one minute and to not being able to play my guitar the next has messed with me....My emotions are quite high when talking about this, all I’ve ever wanted to do is play music and now I can’t, for a while anyway. I prob cry about this the most.
Physical:
This is the hardest part of being in the plastics ward and out of ICU.
In icu your held together, machines keeping you alive and nurses at every breathe, when you get to a ward you have to hold yourself together.
Being off life support doesn’t mean I’m. Better it’s just means I’m not critical anymore.
It was 10 days before I tried to move, the physio wanted me to sit up, wow I was so weak and it was hard!
So I’m learning to walk again, at the moment I can shuffle and have to be assisted. Takes it out of me to go to the toilet!
My arm is the obvious ailment. My left arm is totally out of action. Stitches from top to bottom. (See pics)
Iv had 4 surgery’s on it so far and everytime feels like it sets me back. I know tho that they are part of the healing process.
This means, besides the drugs I’m in a lot of pain most days.
I have to have everything done for me, I’m pretty stubborn so it’s hard!! I have to be washed/showered, sometimes fed and assisted in pretty much anything I used to be able to do.
This is going to be a hard long long journey and I’m so grateful for my incredible wife being by my side everyday.
