Surgeons have to remove a piece of the skull to alleviate the pressure. If the pressure is not released, the brain cells jammed next to the skull will die. After doctors took, away the piece of my grandfather's skull they inserted two drains to help the blood escape. My grandfather was unconscious the whole time. While being treated for the subdural hemorrhage, the doctors in China continued to give him his regular medications, which included a blood thinner for his heart. That caused him then to have a stroke, while he was still in China. My grandfather's brain was injured irreversibly. As soon as he was stable enough, my mom arranged a special flight for a medical team to transport him to UPenn. .
He was received by the Neuro Intensive Care Unit and Trauma Team at University of Pennsylvania Hospital. He was semi-conscious, but he was breathing on his own. The trauma team did extensive testing because he could not talk or complain of pain. They explained often times brain injured patients have other injuries that often get overlooked due to the doctors treating the most extreme or obvious problem first. They found that there were blood clots in his legs. They put a filter in his vena cava to prevent the clots from moving to his lungs, heart, or brain. Clots traveling to any of those spots can kill you. They gave him a trachea tube to help clear phlegm and saliva and breathe easier. The trachea tube was inserted directly into his windpipe. UPenn did an amazing job. After my grandfather slowly aroused, they covered his trachea with a speaking valve to see if he was at all still in there. Though his eyes were still closed he still knew where he lived and who we were, an enormous relief. He was still in there! There was a chance he would come back from the brink of death. He was not brain dead! Also at UPenn they put a peg tube in his stomach for feeding instead of using the nose tube they used in China.