Laura Collett Tweseldown today

Find all this hard to take in, having seen her at Barbury on Sunday with Kauto, Rayef and N Bestman.
Dreadful. Keeping everything crossed that the longer they keep her sedated the better the healing process.
 
To any doctors/nurses out there why would they be keeping her sedated for so long? It must be so worrying for all her friends and family
 
Smith- Im a physio and have worked on itu a fair bit. This is a relatively short time in reality for sedation.
With head injuries the longer you can give down time to the brain the better. With her lung and rib injuries if pain etc is likely to cause her to breath shallowly keeping under to allow the lung to re inflate fully and ribs to stabilize the better- it also means her chest can be cleared of rubbish without having to trachyostomy her as coughing will be painful.
While sedated doctors control everything and can ensure all vitals are within normal or correct limits.
Its also normal to wake and re sedate.
 
Such a terrible accident that makes you realise how fragile we are.

I hope she makes a full and speedy recovery.

I regularly check the website and facebook / twittter feeds.
 
Update:

Laura has had a comfortable night and responding well.

She will remain asleep today to aid recovery. The nurses and doctors in ICU are amazing and Laura is in the best hands.

Her family and friends continue to be overwhelmed by the support.

Further update to follow on Friday
 
Dizzydancer said:
Smith- Im a physio and have worked on itu a fair bit. This is a relatively short time in reality for sedation.
With head injuries the longer you can give down time to the brain the better. With her lung and rib injuries if pain etc is likely to cause her to breath shallowly keeping under to allow the lung to re inflate fully and ribs to stabilize the better- it also means her chest can be cleared of rubbish without having to trachyostomy her as coughing will be painful.
While sedated doctors control everything and can ensure all vitals are within normal or correct limits.
Its also normal to wake and re sedate.
Click to expand...

Ditto this. I'm also a physio I specialise in looking after people who are ventilated at home. If she is sedated its because she will have a tube in her mouth attached to a ventilator at the mo which is very uncomfortable so they will keep her sedated. They will do daily sedation holds so that it doesn't build up in her system and then when they do turn it off it doesn't take a week to wake up as she's had too much. The fact that she responded to her family during this is a great thing. Once she doesn't need a ventilator she will be woken up and they will take the tube out which tends to be quite quick once they decide. If people need to be ventilated for a longer period of time then they will put a tracheostomy in and wake her up, as this is much better tollerated (I have patients living at home like this). The longer you're on a ventilator the longer it takes to wean off.

However exactly why she is still sedated is obviously speculation on our part. What I and dizzy dance have said is appropriate for all ITU patients. It's likely she's sedated because they need to keep her ventilated. Why that is we don't know and it private and confidential information - obviously.

My best wishes go out to Luara and her family friends and team. Wishing her a speedy recovery. Once she's awake I'm sure she'll bounce back as she is young and fit and I'm keeping everything crossed for her. You can be sure her physios will work her hard, once she is ready.

Jx
 
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I echo the comments of others I'm a ICU nurse and agree with the daily sedation breaks and ventilation comments.

It's an awful for time for Laura and her family my thoughts are with them.
 
Update this morning...


Following her fall on Monday Laura has injuries consistent with being crushed, the injury causing most concern is the damage to her lungs. It is for this reason that she continues to be sedated and kept incubated so the lungs can recover. This process is likely to continue over the weekend. We can confirm that she had no injuries to her limbs and all tests to her head and brain have been clear. When in lighter sedation she is very responsive.

Her family continue to be overwhelmed by messages and cards of support

Further updates will follow when there is more news.
 
That is good news. Fingers crossed that the sedation helps her lungs to recover quickly.
She's in my thoughts almost constantly!
 
Oh bless her and her family. They must be desperate to have her woken up but all the signs seem good about her being responsive when the sedation is lightened.

They wouldn't be doing anything they don't need to do, so if she has to stay under the whole weekend or longer, it can only be the best for her at the moment.

Does anyone know how the jockey is doing that is being kept in an induced coma?

Really wishing them both the very best and swift recoveries.
 
She usually wears an air jacket so should imagine that she had it on. However as it was a rotational fall, she probably didn't get far enough away from the mare before she came down on her, for it to inflate.
 
According to twitter and someone close to Laura they said the air jacket went off and was of 'massive assistance'

So pleased to hear positive updates, she's a toughie and will be back on board in no time.
 
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