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Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) - Let's talk
Intensive Care (ICU) | Last Active: Sep 16 7:52pm | Replies (609)Comment receiving replies
The PICU invited our family to a PICU retreat where we can share our perspective and be with some of the providers who were caring for our baby. I think that will be a good step in helping to process some things. Thank you for your efforts in trying to establish an aftercare program at the hospital you used to work at. The support DURING our stay was incredible, and we continued to have some contact with individuals. However, I think a formal support and at least opportunity to talk to a social worker about grief, trauma, death of other kids...would be invaluable. Hopefully awareness is being raised and change can happen. I had no idea that others dealt with these issues until I found this Mayo Clinic group! I thought I was crazy and the only one struggling! The weird thing is no one even asks how that PICU stay and my baby's near death affected me. I guess people just don't think about it.
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@kristap31 thank you so much for sharing your family's story with all of us. I can connect with you from a parent/patient perspective when you say "no one even asks how that PICU stay and my baby's near death affected me". When my son nearly arrested in the ED and ended up in the ICU for 4 days a year and a half ago it all seemed so surreal. But when we left the hospital, we did not have any follow up appointment scheduled for over a month! I was shocked. Coincidentally I had an appointment for myself with our Family Med MD 5 days later. We spent my whole appointment talking about my son's event and we cried and cried and cried together. It was a huge debrief and connection that I needed SO badly at that moment. I don't know what I would've done if I had had nobody from the medical team to talk to for a month! But you are so right - people just don't think about it and don't understand that need to connect and debrief and even to just cry.