Men’s Mental health awareness month

 

After ICU my brain as scrambled as can be,

Needed some help maybe some cbt,

Nearly a year I spent struggling with anxiety and ptsd,

Shows the fucks you gave about me.

I could have been gone instead I hung on,

It was real close programming and anger got me through,

But if I shared in those days people where gone,

One good thing is it showed who was my crew.

Everyone saw the shiny armour I wore,

Not the daggers it drove into me making me bleed,

They didn’t see I was broken to the core,

They did not offer the hand I needed.

I found my feet again in the ashes of myself,

ICU burned a lot out of me changing what me meant,

Left me with pieces that no longer fitted together,

Trying to be a me that no longer exists.

I have scars I can’t look in the mirror to see,

I have scars that mean I can’t look in the mirror,

I have scars that killed the 2015 me,

I have scars that give me pain everyday,

I have scars that I know I will get more of.

I am the best me I will ever be right now,

To me that’s pretty messed up as I’m broken,

I’m held together by my force of will and love,

I will get to a stage where I can’t battle anymore,

When that day comes who will shed a tear?

Likely 5-10 people but they will matter because they loved me

Thoughts on the A-F bundle

 I was always told to stay humble,

I was told let others speak about the things you do,

So I’ll talk about the A to F bundle,

It should be fundamental in every ICU,

If your not then that a major fumble,

Mobilising is good for patients research shows it’s true.

I’m tired of listening to all this squawking,

People who never been intubated telling us what is true?

Maybe you should all start listening and stop talking,

Delirium and acquired weakness are game changers,

Making your body feel like a dam stranger.

People who think sedating is humane,

What is going on in your dam brain,

Increases length of stay, delirium just to name some,

Disabilities, distress and insecurity what you’re imposing.

Let’s look at the bundle and what it does,

A- assess for pain and manage it appropriately,

B- breathing and awakening trials, 

Pausing sedation and making patient do more of the breathing work,

C- choice of sedative and analgesia, 

ensure your using the best ones,

D- Delirium assess, prevent and manage,

Stop the things that cause it and make the patient feel safe,

E- early exercise and mobilisation, 

Protect what’s there and reduce damage that will be done,

F- family it’s the worse time for them too,

Help them survive the stress their going through,

So they can help you too.

So let’s review all the things we do,

When you think of ICU ,

We all know what we should do,

Use the bundle that’s proven true,

To help more people survive the ICU.