Coma

[PrintSmith]

My 35 year old cousin was recently diagnosed as comatose. He was suffering from a clotting disorder and didn't seek medical attention in a timely manner. By the time he did go, he had to undergo emergency surgery to remove clots in his heart, lungs and behind his knees. After surgery, it was 6 hours before they could take him off the heart/lung bypass machine and remove him from the O.R. and send him on to the CCU to recover from the surgery. The surgeons inserted 3 arterial pumps into him to help take some of the load off of his heart after the surgery, as he had stretched the right ventrical of his heart quite a bit. The doctors left him mildly sedated for 3-4 days after his surgery because they left a breathing tube in him and were supplementing his oxygen through it.

He never woke up after they discontinued the sedation, and his mother was told that he is in a coma, and that she needs to find him a long term acute care facility since he is technically not in need of ICU care (breathing tube was removed this last weekend).

His mother said that they did a CAT scan on his brain which showed no brain damage. His sister said that he has gag and foot reflexes and that the EEG was negative (meaning they didn't see anything or see what they were expecting to see?).

That's about the extent of what I currently know. If anyone has an idea on why he might have gone into the coma, or if they have heard of newer treatments for those who have recently entered a coma, I would appreciate any insights or help in pointing his mother in the right direction. I'm sure I am missing information that might be helpful, so if there are questions I should ask to gain the additional information, please let me know.

Mostly, please keep my cousin in your prayers. I believe in the power of intercessory prayer and right about now my cousin could use all the help you might be able to give him.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to help all of us - PrintSmith