Last week (?) Felipe Massa visit Michael in the hospital. He reported from the visit, that he told Michael from the testing, the car and his new team and so on. He said Michael made some movements with his mouth. He hope Michael will be okay. He said at the end of the visit to Michael that it is the time now to wake up. Good Felipe! Come on Michael. Its time to wake up!!!
quoteA FORMER F1 DOC WRITES Thoughts about motorsport (and maybe other stuff . . .) Skip to content Home About Gary Perplexity
February 24, 2014garyhartstein I’ll admit to being perplexed.
First, about the silence from Grenoble.
If you’re not in the habit of reading the comments section after each post (I do, of course – it’s wonderful to see what those of you who read me think, and a source of wonder that you’d actually take the time to write), it’s worth a look (in chronological order) at the comments to my last entry.
It’s pretty clear that Michael’s fans are beginning to feel like their devotion, commitment, and passion for someone they’ve elevated to hero status over many years means nothing. I see strains of anger, disappointment, frustration. Others, with considerable self-abnegation, are hewing to “respect for Michael’s privacy” and accepting the lack of information with equanimity . . . but even here there is an undertone of frustration at being asked to do so.
I’m not a journalist, and I’m not a PR/communications professional. But I totally fail to see how the current comms policy helps either Michael or his family. I fail to see how talking to us about the significant ups and downs of this long hard process damages Michael’s privacy or makes Corinna and the kids’ journey more difficult. I cannot possibly understand the reasons for any of this. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it. This is totally unfair to the people who made Michael the celebrity he is. The people who vibrated to his victories, and were saddened by his defeats. They deserve to be told something. I didn’t say it’s their right to know (although jurisprudence places looser limits on celebrities’ “privacy” than on that of “normal” citizens); rather I said they DESERVE to know. Why on earth is their pain not being considered? How is keeping the millions of fans in the dark helping ANYTHING?
I’m also a bit perplexed about this latest thing in FOCUS.DE about re-starting the sedation. First of all, the article is rather remarkably poorly written. That, plus a singular lack of content make it useless, and surely not even worth wasting one’s time reading.
With no knowledge of Michael’s current clinical condition, it’s impossible to say why he would be re-sedated at this stage. Generically, any situation requiring a still, tranquil patient might raise consideration of reinstating sedation. This could be, for example, respiratory deterioration that requires a new period of mechanical ventilation. It could mean that there has been a change in his neurological status, with perhaps some signs of agitation, or a systemic infection originating in one of the several catheters still present. Again, we have absolutely no idea.
Right now I’ve really only one question (that predates the re-sedation issue). Has Michael been weaned from the ventilator?
As I’ve mentioned, once the sedation was stopped, the next big step physiologically speaking was respiratory weaning. This appears to me to be a piece of news that is unequivocally good, and therefore I cannot imagine it being held from the public. Imagine having heard Sabine say “I’m happy to say Michael is now breathing on his own”. Once again, if he HAS been weaned and we’ve not been told, then this is a shameful and arrogant neglect of his fan base and the public.
If on the other hand Michael is still dependent on the ventilator, it’s important to look at why. In this case, that of a young and (remarkably) healthy man with a high probability of brainstem lesions, damage to the respiratory centres would be high on the list of reasons.
Damage to the brainstem can be associated with numerous clinical presentations. It is where breathing is controlled. As important, the brainstem contains structures that play a vital role in waking the brain and maintaining wakefulness and attention. It’s also where the nerves to and from the face (for hearing, sight, taste, feeling and movement) enter the brain.
With sufficiently widespread damage to the brainstem, the patient shows no sign of awakening, and remains ventilator dependent. This is obviously a devastating situation. Brainstem injury is suspected based on the clinical status of the patient, and is then sought using imaging, especially MRI scanning. The actual function of the brainstem can be interrogated using several techniques, including what are called “brainstem auditory evoked potentials”. This involves placing headphones on the patient and playing a series of several thousand clicks through them. Then, sophisticated software is used to detect, embedded within the electroencephalogram, the passage of the sound information through the brainstem (where it enters and undergoes initial processing).
Let’s cut to the chase.
If Michael is not breathing on his own, and is (as we suspect) not showing signs of purposeful interaction with his environment (I am ignoring the mouth movements of which Felipe Massa spoke), AND if there is imaging and functional evidence of extensive and irreversible brainstem damage, Michael’s doctors will discuss withdrawing treatment with the family, as under these circumstances there is essentially no chance of recovery. It is possible that this discussion has already happened.
If Michael is breathing on his own but still not showing purposeful interaction with his environment, then patience is still very much in order. Remember that at one month post-sedation, persistence of this state means roughly a 50% chance of awakening, with the quality of that awakening an open question. This falls to 20% at six weeks (three weeks from now), with a larger portion of these patients having severe functional handicaps. And at one year, essentially no one still comatose wakes up.
Lastly, if Michael is breathing on his own AND showing signs of meaningful interaction with his environment (I very much hope, but very much doubt that this is the situation), then a certain number of people should be ashamed of themselves for denying this good news to his fans. If there is indeed progress and good news ready to be told, then the current comms strategy will go down in the annals as among the most ill-guided, unprofessional, and hurtful in the history of Formula 1 PR.
But if the family gets to the point were they have to decide to disconnect (is that the right word?) him or something like that, I think they should be allowed to decide without the fans knowing about it. Because otherwise it would be a HUGE debate.
So I'm basically waiting for them to suddenly tell us he died or that he miraculously recovered.
I am not a Schumi fan, but still feel bad about not knowing what's going on. So I also agree with this doctor about Shumi's fans deserving to know, at least a bit more of information. It would help them to get prepared for either outcome.
One the one hand I think that the family has the right to be left in peace and that it´s right that they don´t give out news on a daily basis.
But on the other hand I imagine that if this was Kimi I would go crazy and would want to get as many information as possible. =(
Hope that at the end everything turns out in a positive way. Though it really doesn´t look like that at the moment!
"Walk on, through the wind, Walk on, through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone, YOU`LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!"
Quote: claudie wrote in post #82 But on the other hand I imagine that if this was Kimi I would go crazy and would want to get as many information as possible. =( (
I would go mad from sorrow Dear God let this never been happen
Quote: claudie wrote in post #82One the one hand I think that the family has the right to be left in peace and that it´s right that they don´t give out news on a daily basis.
But on the other hand I imagine that if this was Kimi I would go crazy and would want to get as many information as possible. =(
Hope that at the end everything turns out in a positive way. Though it really doesn´t look like that at the moment!
Claudie.
I agree 100% that the family doesn't have to update us on a daily basis. And they are free to update us on whatever time schedule works best for them..
I personally feel that if there was good news to share, the family would readily share it! And since we haven't heard any information, the news must not be good.
quoteSchumacher’s situation remains unchanged07 Mar 2014
Michael Schumacher’s management has released the first update in just over three weeks on the seven-time world champion. His condition remains unchanged as doctors continue the process of bringing him out of his medically-induced coma following his skiing accident in December.
“Michael is still in the wake up phase,” read Friday’s statement. “The situation has not changed. Any medical information published which is not confirmed by the team of doctors treating Michael or his management has to be considered as not valid.”
Schumacher, 45, was placed in an induced coma in Grenoble's University Hospital in France after falling and hitting his head on a rock during a family ski trip. The German’s medical team began reducing his sedation at the end of January.
Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:25 am (Last edited: Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:36 am)
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Claudie.
