sugarbear

Wow...that ICU psychosis...*really* sounds like it fits with what Dad has going on. He certainly is not getting good sleep for weeks now...even before he got into the ICU he hasn't be able to sleep because of pain...and now all of the disturbances in the hospital...it sure sounds like it fits. It seems to fit too with the fact that as soon as a new person comes to visit him he is fine...but when the new/interesting stimulii goes away he more easily slips into this delirium. I really appreciate it. Thank you all...I hope that we have a name for our issue now. --PAUL

Sorry to bother you all - and perhaps this is not the place to ask this question - so I apologize in advance. This isn't a medical question, per se...but mostly just asking about your experience. My father is just recovering from post-operative back surgery, in which he had a small(?) heart attack in the recovery room and then immediately an angiogram/angioplasty on his right coronary artery...it has been 6 days now since the surgery(s). On day 4, he started having what I would (non-professionally) called dimensia. He imagines that silverware is sitting in front of him on the sheets and tries to pick them up. He sees medicine floating in the air. ...and most disturbing to my mom is how he will be having a conversation with us and then *instantly* - even eyes open - start rambling incoherantly from parts of old conversations with people he hasn't talked to in years, or statements back to back that might makes sense as a single sentence but when strung together have no relationship, "Danny time to get a haircut. I need to grade those papers. Ooops, I cut a wire." At first we thought it was the pain killers...but now he hasn't been on them for a couple days and it is still happening. The doctor said the brain tests came back "excellent"...so supposedly no detectable damage from the heart attack. Do you see this kinda thing happen a lot after surgery? Cardiac surgery? Can anesthesia cause strangeness like this so long after surgery? Again, I am not asking for medical advice or anything...just wondering if in your field - in the field - you see alot of this... Thanks so much if you can give me some feedback. --PAUL