Three days ago my aunt dropped dead.  No known reason yet, it wasn't a heart attack, wasn't a stroke, but we don't know what it was.  They brought her back after 30(yes, THIRTY) minutes.  At the hospital she coded 5 more times but they were able to bring her back every time.  They ended up putting her in a medically induced coma and hypothermia to keep her alive and buy some time.  Now the neurologist just gave us his report.  Every test they've run on her brain has shown nothing positive.  As far as we can tell her brain is fucked.  Now we're trying to decide when and what to take her off of to let her go as comfortable as possible...

Fuckin' sucks...   Prayers and thoughts appreciated.

Sorry to hear that. What do you think her wishes might have been??

Hard times, that.    Prayers out.

There's no way she would want to go on at this point.  They revived her the first 5 times before we even were able to gather and talk about what to do but at that point I think we would have opted to bring her back each time as it all happened so fast.

Right now we are just trying to keep her comfortable.  It's somewhat frustrating dealing with my grandma as it's very hard for her to let go(my aunt lived with and cared for my grandma) but I fully understand her reasons.  Right now most all of her bodily functions are 100% reliant on machines and medication so when we're ready, that's it.

Well, i'm ready to let go now as there's nothing more can be done but the neurologist assured us that he is very confident that she is in no distress.  She is getting all the oxygen she needs, fluids, medication to keep her from having a seizure, ect.  I take comfort in that but I really want this to be over for everyone, especially my aunt...

Prayers sent.

Sorry to hear this.

We went through something similar with my Mother.
Pulling the plug is tough.

Prayers for you and your family.

If there's no brain activity then she's already gone. So just turning off the machines and letting her body die won't cause her any pain if knowing that helps any. In any case it sucks and you have my condolences.

damn that sucks

There is SOME brain activity, enough that if she came out of the coma she might even be fully aware of what's going on(which would be terrible, IMO), but it wouldn't be her anymore, in a sense.  It's just far to messed up up their for her to come back anywhere near herself...  I just hope the people closest to her(her mother and daughter) come around soon so we can make the call and end her struggle...

If it any help to you, I have been in your positon when the machines are shut down.

There is relief and calm for both the loved one and for you.  It is orderly and natural.

You are going through the hardest part right now.

Best wishes.

If there's no brain activity then she has already moved on.
Best wishes to you and your family.

Update:

She's gone.

Well, more like but for her sake cause she's at peace now.  They took her off the blood pressure medication and she died within an hour.  No pain, no suffering.  Cya soon!  Don't miss me too much up there, cause I sure as shit am down here...

I don't understand this, did the doctors give any hint as to wtf happened?

Sorry to hear that.

No, they spent all their effort just trying to keep her alive.  By the time it was clear she was in deep shit they wanted to get a good picture on what her brain was doing.  Then they found out she had serious brain damage and probably couldn't physically go on anyways.  The time between keeping her alive and realizing she probably wasn't going to make it was so short that I have a feeling they weren't able to run many tests anyways.  Most of that time she spent in a coma and deep hypothermia anyways.  They gave us a few possibilities but said they really didn't know.

When she did flat-line though there was no v-fib(or w/e that is called) or anything.  The heart was just completely stopped.

Sorry to hear of it .      Did a prayer ,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but having taught CPR for 20+ years, here it is:

She's basically gone.  Her brain would have started dying after 4-6 minutes without oxygen, and by the 10 minute mark, anything you knew as your aunt was gone.  The body takes longer to die.  So, they saved her body.  While she is alive, medically, and able to donate organs, she is not, and never will, be the person you knew.  There's no comfort involved, it's as if you got out of your car, and left it running.  Sure, it's idling, and is running, but with no one to drive it, it just sits there.  

Consider donating organs, since people die every day waiting for help that will never come.  Your aunt could save or improve dozens of lives, between lungs, kidneys, liver, skin, corneas, maybe even her heart.  I hate to sound cold-hearted, but sadly, without oxygen, she was gone by the time the ambulance probably got to her.  

Sorry to hear about it, and I will be praying for your family.

ETA:  Damn, just read your update.  Sorry, Man.  That sucks.  

We opted to donate what we could but her liver, kidney, lungs.. ect. ect. ect. were mostly shot.