family in ICU need advice

[karlierh]

I am a surgical nurse, so i have a pretty good back ground but, i need advice from some ICU nurses. My father in law went into cardiac arrest Thursday morning. He was taken to ICU put under a hypothermic blanket and put on Ditropvan. Yesterday they started warming him up and stopped all medications. They inserted a feeding tube and have back him down on the vent. He is not fighting restraints and only has some eye movements in response to people. MD said today that this is probably the amount of neuro function that he will have, he doesn't expect much more. He says we should have seen much more neuro activity if it was going to happen, maybe a little bit more improvement in the next 24 hrs. Then it would be time to make decissions. Have any of you seen very much more improvement after another 2 or 3 days? Expectations if he doesn't improve? How long after other life support is taken away? thanks

[TazziRN, RN]

Do you mean Diprovan?

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

Prayers and hugs are out to you and your family.

[karlierh]

Do you mean Diprovan?

Yes, I know my spelling is very bad

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Yes indeed prayers and gentle hugs. Much depends on WHY your FIl arrested. Please discuss this with the intensivist or provider caring for him. Each case is individual and we wouldn't want to either give false hope and/or paint a false picture.