39 years old and 68 days in intensive care
19 years and 42 days in intensive care
49 years old and 80 days in intensive care
I arrived at the emergency room on 13 November 2017 following fever and respiratory difficulties.
The next day I was directly transferred to the intensive care unit where I will stay for 2 months with a vital prognosis.
I was detected with a rare disease and several other infections. The first 3 weeks were a blur, mainly because of the coma which lasted 2 weeks, then a lot of confusion before being operated on urgently. I underwent a total colectomy (removal of the colon) and the installation of a stoma (surgical deviation of the bowel) which I kept for a year, chemotherapy, dialysis 3 or 4 times a week, various biopsies, lumbar punctures, thoracentesis (punctures of the chest wall to drain liquid from the pleura), etc…
I remember a lot of my anxieties and those in the eyes of my relatives, the fear of dying, the incessant “beeps” of the machines, the alarms… I remember my paralysed and skeletal body, not having enough strength to lift my arm. Many very realistic nightmares every night. The feeling of not being in control of my body anymore.
On Christmas Day, to cheer me up, Professor Mira, head of the Intensive Care Medicine Department at the Cochin Hospital, agreed to bring my dog into my room.
I would like to thank above all the nursing staff, who were so kind and who fought day and night to offer me “my second life”. I would like to thank Prof. Mira, Prof. Chiche, the nurses, the doctors, the interns, the nurses’ aides. They all gave me the strength to fight. I also thank my family, of course, who were so present during this ordeal, as well as my friends who sent me so much love and also the love of my life, who stayed by my side throughout this ordeal.
Today, thanks to the nursing staff who made my life their priority, I am living my second life. I have done more in the last 2 years than in the previous 20. I live with a partner, I went back to school, I started my own coaching company, I got a second dog, a house in the country to recharge my batteries every weekend. I am happy and fulfilled. I am in great shape. So THANK YOU.
On 5 February 2020 I was admitted to the intensive care unit following a complication of the flu. On Monday I started to have a fever, on Tuesday I went to college, and on Wednesday I couldn’t breathe. The doctors put me in a deep artificial coma to keep me alive. My liver, kidneys and mainly my lungs were affected, so much so that my chances of survival were close to 1%. The whole team of the ward, the orderlies, nurses and doctors, took care of me relentlessly. I was brought out of the coma after 3 weeks, then it took another 3 weeks to be extubated, 3 weeks that I spent conscious, with a tube in my trachea… Despite all these ordeals, I am alive and I have a second life. I have resumed my studies and I have just passed my exams…. Resuscitation has this extraordinary potential to save lives. I had this chance.
Nine years ago, an autoimmune disease in its most severe form landed me in intensive care. Although I had never been hospitalised, my life was completely turned upside down in a few days and I was admitted to the intensive care unit when I was between life and death, 7 months pregnant. I was placed in an induced coma as my prognosis was life-threatening… and I lost my baby. The 3 months I spent in intensive care were 3 months of struggle, 3 months to be reborn, to breathe again on my own… 3 months to live, quite simply. Then, it took me a year of physiotherapy, to learn to walk, talk, eat, become autonomous again and regain my freedom.
It took me another few years of psychotherapy, mixed with acceptance and resilience. And then Sacha, my son, was born. This was my greatest victory over life. A victory which is also that of all those who offered me this second life. My family and friends of course, and this wonderful medical team, as competent as it is caring, which accompanied me throughout this ordeal.