Patient Recovery

Back in April, I wrote a post in this blog about a young patient who had heart surgery, and developed ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) after surgery requiring him to be on the ventilator for over a week. During this time, he was wide awake during the daytime. We developed hand signals so that we could quickly communicate the common things (wanting to turn on his side, needing some moisture for his mouth, wanting me to call his significant other, etc) and he had paper and a pen on his bed to write notes for the not-so-common things, like asking questions about his care and wanting to clarify what the doctors were telling him.

During his 7 weeks at our hospital, he was transferred out of the ICU to the telemetry floor, back to the ICU, and then to telemetry again. I had the pleasure (and pure luck) of running into this patient and his significant other in the elevator on the day he was being discharged. He was on oxygen, weak, and in need of rehab, but otherwise looking pretty good for all he had been through over the previous 2 months.

Yesterday, I was in a patient room when I saw a familiar face outside the door – it was this patient and his significant other. My jaw dropped – he looked amazing. He had comfortably walked down the long hallway to the back corner of the ICU, he had a giant smile on his face, and was wearing a portable oxygen pack. He told me about his recovery and that he’s back to most of his normal activities. He’s gained about 15 of the 25 pounds back that he lost during the illness and only has to wear his oxygen during physical activity. Just before the onset of his illness, he and his significant other were packing to travel to New Zeland where they had planned to exchange vows of commitment (a non-legal marriage). Because of his oxygen needs, they haven’t been able to go, but it is planned for next spring.

He has no recollection of being in the ICU or being on the ventilator, only vague memories of our sliding glass doors on the ICU patient rooms. As we were talking, a monitor alarm went off in the room next to us, and he said with a smile, “oh, I remember that sound too.” That’s one thing about being an ICU nurse… patients usually don’t remember us because they’re so sick while under our care. That’s okay with me though. I know everything that this man went through during his weeks in the ICU and I know that it’s better for him not to remember- he went through some tough stuff.

Seeing him walk out of the unit was one of the best feelings I’ve had at work in a long time. :)