Chemo patient off ventilator, but talking gibberish

[Anonymous]

A friend's daughter has leukemia, got sepsis, was ventilated about 5 days, but took 3 days to awaken post sedation/ventilation. And now she cannot talk much at all, it's mostly gibberish. The hospital is bad, expects parent to TEXT MESSAGE a social worker with any questions. Child just got moved out of ICU. Parent is very in the dark about what is happening. Assuming this hospital is real bad, any chance this spontaneously resolves itself without being followed/treated by a neurologist?

[Anonymous]

There’s a lot of heavy meds on the patient. Sorry they are dealing with this.

[Anonymous]

I should add the patient has been awake 2 or 3 days, but still has trouble speaking anything intelligible. Mostly gibberish

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of heavy meds on the patient. Sorry they are dealing with this.

thank you.

[Anonymous]

Is the parent not with their child 24/7? Can they not ask to speak with the doctor in charge?

[Anonymous]

If they have patient on psychotic drugs combined with morphine, etc. the drugs are likely the cause. Also, they sometimes switch from one med to another med to try. It can be very scary to watch.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like she is delirious. Parents should text the team “larla seems to be is delirious and we are requesting a psych or whatever other service does these in that hospital) consult (psychiatry generally does these evals inpatient though in reality it’s a medical/neuro issue.)

if they say no, reply “are you saying she is not delirious or are you declining a consult for a delirious patient?”

[Anonymous]

Saying a prayer for your friend’s daughter.

[Anonymous]

The parent needs to talk with the doctor. They have to sit in there and ask to speak to the doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the parent not with their child 24/7? Can they not ask to speak with the doctor in charge?

Parents are divorced, each is there half the time but other parent is weird and won't collaborate or share information. Hospital is in NY too and said certain records cannot be disclosed due to child privacy laws for children ages 9+!!!! Can.you.imagine. having a child being treated for leukemia, or in ICU on a ventilator suddenly and hearing that? I think a doctor passing through is rare. This hospital seems like hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saying a prayer for your friend’s daughter.

thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she is delirious. Parents should text the team “larla seems to be is delirious and we are requesting a psych or whatever other service does these in that hospital) consult (psychiatry generally does these evals inpatient though in reality it’s a medical/neuro issue.)

if they say no, reply “are you saying she is not delirious or are you declining a consult for a delirious patient?”

will pass along, thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she is delirious. Parents should text the team “larla seems to be is delirious and we are requesting a psych or whatever other service does these in that hospital) consult (psychiatry generally does these evals inpatient though in reality it’s a medical/neuro issue.)

if they say no, reply “are you saying she is not delirious or are you declining a consult for a delirious patient?”

This is terrible advice. This is not a psych issue.

I think your role in this situation is to be the friend who listens and not the friend who gives advice. If you want to do something helpful, buy your friend food or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she is delirious. Parents should text the team “larla seems to be is delirious and we are requesting a psych or whatever other service does these in that hospital) consult (psychiatry generally does these evals inpatient though in reality it’s a medical/neuro issue.)

if they say no, reply “are you saying she is not delirious or are you declining a consult for a delirious patient?”

This is terrible advice. This is not a psych issue.

I think your role in this situation is to be the friend who listens and not the friend who gives advice. If you want to do something helpful, buy your friend food or something.

They are asking my advice in this case. It's a close friend, but out of state.

It's so bad, the response from a worker was a blurb about peripheral neuropathy - copied and pasted from internet or I don't know. They showed it to me. As if that affects speech. .

I suggested they ask to speak with a neurologist. I pray this is temporary and can resolve. Hug your kids you all.

[Anonymous]

Is there no oncologist regularly meeting with the parents at bedside? Is she stable enough to move to another hospital? It sounds like cancer treatment is on hold until she stabilizes? I would see about sending her to the nearest pediatric hospital.

Obviously it’s not peripheral neuropathy. Is it possibly it’s encephalopathy, and your friends misheard? If the communication between the physicians/specialists and the parents is so poor, they should ask to speak to a patient representative.