Hello. I'm new here. My 72 year old husband had sepsis two months ago. All things considered, he recovered well after three or four days on a ventilator and went to rehab after a total of 12 days in the hospital. So, it's two months now and he still cannot stand on his own or walk...very weak. He says his legs just won't support him. Now recovering from a staph infection contracted in rehab. I'm bringing him home. I will hire an aide, make sure I have all the equipment I need...what Medicare doesn't supply I will buy. I just hope that in time, he will recover. I'm a little scared to be a caregiver but at this point, home is the best place for him. Anyone experienced with post-sepsis care? I've read that sometimes six months or longer is needed for recovery. The rehab people made it sound like two months is time enough...after a while I asked if any of them were experienced in treating post-sepsis patients. Any advice or encouragement would be so appreciated! Thank you.
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You might want to look into seeing if your husband might qualify for Hospice care. That would certainly help you at this point in your husbands journey, and if down the road he gets well enough to not need them anymore, than so be it.
My husband was under Hospice care in our home for 22 months, and I was his sole caregiver(along with Hospice), until he died 5 weeks ago. Was it hard? Of course it was, but I wouldn't of wanted it any other way. My husband always said that he wanted to die at home and I am so grateful that he got his wish.
God bless you and keep you on this journey you're now on with your husband. Please take time to enjoy the little things.
But another issue is, how did he come to develop sepsis? Was it an injury, a chronic illness making him vulnerable to acute infection - what happened?
In general terms, sepsis really does knock the stuffing out of you. We have had a handful of clients continuing their recovery at home after several weeks in sub-acute hospital settings (we have places called "community hospitals" - sort of rehab, but more like parking places for older people until their home care is sorted out, if you see what I mean) and it continues to be a factor. Look out for fatigue, try to keep tasks and activities short and sweet, break things down into small steps (e.g. wash face and hands. Later, clean teeth. Later still, shave).
If I were you, I would ask for an occupational therapy assessment. If he's not able to stand on his own and you have space for equipment, it could be that a stand-aid (Google "Mackworth") is the right way to go, but you really want expert advice on this. If you don't already have a profiling hospital bed, with bed rails (I will explain), get one. You want the rails not to stop your husband falling out of bed but so that he can hang on to them to help turn and reposition himself; and the rails can always be lowered fully out of the way when not wanted.
Encouragement - you will be AMAZED at what is possible, and at what you are able to do! But to make sure you don't fall flat on your face: when things are difficult, never be afraid to say so and to ask for help.
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You want to nail them down as to whether they think it is possible that he will regain the use of his legs or not. Planning for that (having him permanently in a wheelchair) is going to look different than planning for him to get back to the baseline he was at before he became ill.