Ms. Deborah D. was very emotional and questioning in front of her comatose mother.

Mme Deborah D. était très émotive et se posait des questions devant sa mère dans le coma.

E: C’était un peu // mon frère, lui, y allait volontiers, mais moi je ne pouvais pas. Donc je suis restée un peu derrière, puis là il m’a juste dit:  il faut que vous y allez, elle a besoin de vous. Genre  voilà, mets-toi de côté un peu, ta personne et vas-y quoi. Mais pour moi c’était trop de la voir comme ça. Alors je suis allée en me disant voilà, donc elle était dans le coma. Tout ce que je me souviens, c’est qu’on lui a dit, on lui a parlé en se disant certainement peut-être qu’elle nous entend. On ne savait pas trop. Et puis mon frère m’a dit regarde, et puis elle pleurait, elle avait une larme. Donc après, enfin ça m’émeut encore d’y repenser.  Mais est-ce que oui ou pas, elle nous a entendu? On ne sait pas. Ou est-ce que c’était juste le liquide lacrymal qui coule comme ça, parce qu’il doit couler, je ne sais pas. En tout cas, c’était fort. On lui disait justement qu’on sait qu’elle va revenir, enfin voilà quoi. Et voilà, donc le lendemain, elle est revenue. On nous a dit qu’ils doivent faire encore des tests, voir si elle peut communiquer.  Elle était donc entubée, ça elle est restée plusieurs jours entubée, parce qu’ils pouvaient pas enlever, parce que dès qu’ils enlevaient, le cœur il lâchait, enfin ça n’allait pas. Et elle a pu assez rapidement, je crois deux jours après, je ne sais plus, écrire sur un tablette. Bon écrire d’une façon, il fallait vraiment déchiffrer.  Bon moi je travaille en pharmacie, donc les écritures de médecins je suis un peu habituée mais quand même, elle avait sa tête.

Mme Deborah D. témoigne du coma de sa mère.

La signora Deborah D. era molto emotiva e faceva domande davanti a sua madre in coma.

E: Era un po' // mio fratello voleva andare da lei, ma io non potevo. Così sono rimasta un po' indietro, e poi lui mi ha detto: devi andare, lei ha bisogno di te. Tipo, metti un po' da parte te stesso, la tua persona e vai. Ma per me era troppo vederla in quello stato. Così sono entrata e mi sono detta: ok, era in coma. Tutto quello che ricordo è che le abbiamo detto, le abbiamo parlato, pensando che forse poteva sentirci. Non lo sapevamo davvero. E poi mio fratello ha detto guarda, e poi lei stava piangendo, aveva una lacrima. Così dopo, mi commuove ancora pensarci.  Ma ci ha sentito o no? Non lo sappiamo. O era solo il fluido lacrimale che scorreva così, perché deve scorrere, non lo so. Comunque, era forte. Le stavamo solo dicendo che sappiamo che tornerà, quindi ecco fatto. Così il giorno dopo è tornata. Ci dissero che dovevano fare altri test, per vedere se poteva comunicare.  Così è stata intubata, è rimasta intubata per diversi giorni, perché non potevano rimuoverla, perché appena l'hanno rimossa, il cuore ha ceduto, beh non funzionava. Ed è stata in grado abbastanza rapidamente, credo due giorni dopo, non so, di scrivere su una tavoletta. Beh, per scrivere in un certo senso, bisognava proprio decifrare.  Beh, io lavoro in una farmacia, quindi sono in qualche modo abituata alle scritture dei medici, ma comunque, lei aveva la testa.

La signora Deborah D. racconta del coma di sua madre.

Frau Deborah D. war sehr emotional belastet und stellte Fragen vor ihrer komatösen Mutter.

E: Es war ein bisschen // mein Bruder wollte gerne zu ihr gehen, aber ich konnte nicht. Also bin ich zurückgeblieben, und dann hat er einfach gesagt: Du musst mitkommen, sie braucht dich. Ich blieb also ein wenig zurück, und dann sagte er mir einfach: Du musst mitkommen, sie braucht dich. Stellen Sie sich selbst für eine Weile zurück, Ihre Person und gehen Sie voran. Aber für mich war es zu viel, sie so zu sehen. Also habe ich mir gesagt: Sie lag also im Koma. Ich erinnere mich nur daran, dass wir es ihr gesagt haben, dass wir mit ihr gesprochen haben, weil wir dachten, dass sie uns vielleicht hören könnte. Wir wussten es nicht wirklich. Und dann hat mein Bruder gesagt, schau mal, und dann hat sie geweint, sie hatte eine Träne. Im Nachhinein bewegt es mich immer noch, wenn ich daran denke.  Aber hat sie uns gehört oder nicht? Wir wissen es nicht. Oder war es nur die Tränenflüssigkeit, die so fließt, denn sie muss ja fließen, ich weiß es nicht. Auf jeden Fall war es laut. Wir haben ihr gerade gesagt, dass wir wissen, dass sie zurückkommen wird, also bitte sehr. Und so kam sie am nächsten Tag zurück. Man sagte uns, dass sie noch einige Tests durchführen müssten, um zu sehen, ob sie kommunizieren könne.  Also wurde sie intubiert, sie blieb mehrere Tage lang intubiert, weil sie es nicht entfernen konnten, denn sobald sie es entfernten, versagte das Herz, es funktionierte nicht mehr. Und sie war in der Lage, ziemlich schnell, ich glaube zwei Tage später, ich weiß nicht, auf einem Tablet zu schreiben. Nun, um in gewisser Weise zu schreiben, musste man wirklich entschlüsseln.  Nun, ich arbeite in einer Apotheke, bin also an die Handschrift von Ärzten gewöhnt, aber sie hatte trotzdem ihren Kopf.

Frau Deborah D. berichtet über das Koma ihrer Mutter.

E: It was a bit // my brother wanted to go to her, but I couldn't. So I stayed behind a bit, and then he just told me: you have to go, she needs you. Like, put yourself aside a little bit, your person and go. But for me it was too much to see her like that. So I went in and I was like, okay, so she was in a coma. All I remember is that we told her, we talked to her, thinking that maybe she could hear us. We didn't really know. And then my brother said look, and then she was crying, she had a tear. So afterwards, it still moves me to think about it.  But did she hear us or not? We don't know. Or was it just the tear fluid flowing like that, because it must be flowing, I don't know. Anyway, it was loud. We were just telling her that we know she's going to come back, so there you go. So the next day, she came back. We were told that they had to do some more tests, to see if she could communicate.  So she was entubated, she remained entubated for several days, because they couldn't remove it, because as soon as they removed it, the heart gave out, well it wasn't working. And she was able quite quickly, I think two days later, I don't know, to write on a tablet. Well, to write in a way, you really had to decrypt.  Well, I work in a pharmacy, so I'm somewhat used to doctors' writings, but still, she had her head.

Mrs. Deborah D. reports on her mother's coma.

Many patients in the ICU experience the state of coma or sedation. Coma can be caused by changes in metabolism, the severe illness, or sedating and pain-relieving medications. Thus, patients often experience their time in the ICU in a fragmented way and forget much of the experience.

Coma/Sedation

With the technical and medical possibilities on intensive care a patient can be able to survive life-threatening illnesses. These experiences of critical illness and intensive care medicine are challenging for patients and families. Often experiences made on intensive care unit (ICU) can be life changing.
In small video- or audio-sequences we would like to illustrate the experiences made by patients on ICU and how they handled their stay in this critical situation.
Many patients share their experiences on intensive care unit and show how these experiences influenced their life.

Grazie alle possibilità mediche e tecniche offerte dalla terapia intensiva, oggi un paziente può sopravvivere a malattie gravi e precedentemente mortali. L’esperienza di queste gravi condizioni di salute e l’esperienza della terapia intensiva possono cambiare la vita in modo radicale, sia ai pazienti che ai loro cari.

In questa sezione potete scoprire come altre persone hanno vissuto il loro tempo in un’unità di terapia intensiva. In brevi video o estratti di testo, i pazienti raccontano la loro permanenza in terapia intensiva, il modo in cui hanno gestito questo periodo delle loro vite, ed il modo in cui questa esperienza li ha cambiati.

Esperienze in terapia intensiva

Les possibilités médicales et techniques permettent de plus en plus souvent aux patients de survivre à des maladies graves et autrefois mortelles. L’expérience par les patients de ces maladies graves et de leur prise en charge médicale en soins intensifs peuvent changer la vie d’une manière très mémorable.

Dans cette section, vous découvrirez comment d’autres personnes ont vécu leur séjour dans une unité de soins intensifs. Dans de courts extraits vidéo ou textuels, les patients rendent compte de leur séjour à l’unité de soins intensifs. Ils témoignent également des changements qui peuvent se produire dans la vie d’une personne après les soins intensifs.

Expérience en médecine de soins intensifs

Die heutigen medizinischen und technischen Möglichkeiten lassen Patient*innen schwere und lebensbedrohliche Erkrankungen überstehen. Die Erfahrung einer so schweren Erkrankung, die eine intensivmedizinischen Behandlung benötigt, kann das Leben sehr einprägsam verändern.

Wie andere Menschen die Zeit auf einer Intensivstation erlebt haben, können Sie in dieser Sektion erfahren. In kurzen Video- oder Textausschnitten berichten Patient*innen und Angehörige,  über die Erfahrungen einer schweren oft lebensbedrohlichen Erkrankung und einer Behandlung auf einer Intensivstation. Ebenso können Sie erfahren, mit welchen Veränderungen die Betroffenen sich nach der Zeit auf der Intensivstation auseinandersetzen.

Erfahrungen Intensivmedizin

Experiences in Intensive Care

Mrs. Deborah D., daughter of a patient, describes a very positive atmosphere for the patients in the intensive care unit.

So I found it very good. On the second or third day, I don't remember, there was an extraordinary atmosphere. There were many young people there, young nurses. My mother likes to work with young people, because she always says that all generations are great to mix: I learn, they learn, and everything. And I think it worked really well. Everybody told me, " that we love your mom, she is very cooperative, she was really sweet." And I was very afraid of that; I thought she (my mother) will know she's screwed, she might get angry, she'll want to take it off, she'll.... and then she actually didn't.  Well, she was already on a lot of medication, so I think she was a little bit "stoned" too. But I know that they were saying, that they were playing music too; she was almost laughing, well she was saying, they're nice, I don't know, she said, they're nice; then I said: ah, you're lucky and they're cute; then she said yes, yes. She said to me, my mother: I don't know, sometimes I have the impression that I was in a discotheque, I don't know, I don't know where I was, there was noise. So she, was she perhaps also drunk with the drugs, a little euphoric too, I don't know. But in any case, they were sweet.

Mrs. Deborah D. experienced a positive atmosphere.

Relatives can feel lost and often do not understand how ICU procedures work. Some reported a positive feeling and confidence that their loved one was being well cared for. However, most relatives said they would have liked more support during the difficult time.

Deborah D.

Mrs. Deborah D. reports on her mother's coma.

Video Interview

Related experiences

Other experiences by Deborah D.

Deborah D.