My brother has been hospitalized with a very severe pulmonary infection, on a weakened system (heart issues, refusal to seek medical care, alcoholism, compromised immunity due to said alcoholism). He has been intubated and placed for the last two days in artificial coma (not sure it’s the correct word in English) to limit body exhaustion, while they tried to figure out what his issues were exactly, what bacteria was involved, whether the infection was spreading to other organs, etc…
I’ve been called tonight, and told that he was transfered to another hospital for what I believe is called in English cardio-pulmonary bypass (artificial blood circulation) to relieve the heart while they try to establish what concuring problems there might be (heart infection, coronary obstruction…). The doctor told me that it doesn’t mean that his condition (already bad) was worsening, just that they had to relieve the heart. But, frankly, I don’t really believe him. During the day, the news had been slightly better (higher white blood cells count, better breathing).
Besides venting, my question probably is whether or not it is credible that this doesn’t mean a worsened state. And in fact also what questions I should ask the doctors, because I’m sure there are many questions I’d want to ask and won’t think about.