The Whole Story: Part Twelve - Long Haul ICU
At the end of my last post I mentioned that most people only stay in the ICU for less than 48 hours. Despite some rather exceptional circumstances with trying to get me to wake up from anesthesia, my first ICU stay would have only been about this long had it not been for overcrowding. That meant the hospital was too full to move me to a regular room and so they had to keep me on the ICU floor and downgrade me to acute care. My second ICU stay turned out to be the exception that made the rule. The output from my EVD showed that a shunt would be necessary, but because of the infection, they were unable to go in for an additional surgery right away. In fact, after my surgery, the infectious disease (ID) department became the ones in charge. This was because once the CSF leak had been patched the infection was now the most immediate danger. Neurosurgery was not allowed to lift a finger without their approval. Looking back it's easier to piece this story together with hindsigh