Prince Friso in Critical Condition Following Skiing Accident: February 17, 2012

[kalnel]

I have a feeling that news of Prince Friso's situation will be similar to the public news of Prince Kardam's. We might hear something if there's a significant change or as part of an update every few months, but beyond that, there's probably not that much to say.

Very sad, indeed.

[COUNTESS]

The sadder thing is allowing the living "death".. I don't know the reasoning. Very sad.

[HRHHermione]

Originally Posted by EIIR

Thank you for your clear explanation, HRHHermione. I didn't mean to annoy anyone with my question.

Didn't bother me at all :) It was a good question

[PrincessKaimi]

A lot of people don't understand that CPR basically acts like a heart/lung machine (and I do not remember if we heard whether Prince Friso's heart ever started beating on its own - I know we heard he was on machines, but I don't think we know which ones). If a person gets CPR within 2-3 minutes of ceasing to breathe, brain damage can be minimized, as it was in the footballer's case.

25 minutes is very long and would be a kind of world record if Prince Friso pulled through without very severe brain damage.

BUt these are good questions and help us all remember why we took CPR classes in the first place (and why we might want refresher courses). Where I work, we also have a defibrulator (spelling?) and we got brief training (they made it look so easy) but in a real emergency, having a real doctor that is a definite plus.

[Kataryn]

Originally Posted by HRHHermione

In the other case- medical attention was administered right away. He could not breathe on his own and his heart couldn't beat, but CPR was administered and so was artificial respiration so the cells were still getting oxygen, which kept them from dying and causing permanent damage.

.

Maybe just a short explanation: when the heart stops beating, the blood still is already filled with oxygen. So you work to keep the blood floating through heart massage. In between you brathe air into the patient at certain intervals - the breath coming from a person still has a lot of oxygen, which is then breathed into the patient. Thus the next "load" of blood you massage through the body is still oxidized. In the hospital machines take this part: they oxidize the blood through pumping oxigene into the lung and they see to it that the blood is pumped through the body as if the heart still works.

This is done eg in hospitals after a patient is declared "brain dead" in order to keep the organs alive and in good shape for a potential organ donor OP.
Problem is you can't keep a human being forever on those emachines as living is a very complex process and you need the human brain to coordinate all sub-processes necessary for keeping the body in a good shape. Someone mentioned decubitus here: if a body is not moving, then the weight of it destroys the skin and opens it up to all kinds of infections. So the body decays even though the blood is still pumping through the veins.

Some people in a coma have still enough brain parts working so that their brain can organize their survival with the help of machines. Then there might be hope for a recovery. In other cases you see the body dying slowly, but dying none-the-less. It takes in serious cases quite some time to figure out if a comatose patient can survive with the aid of machinery or if he or she is slowly dying. I guess that's what the doctors do at the moment - trying to figure out if there is any kind of survival chance for Friso on his own - even if he is still aided by machines.

[Meraude]

The two cases of prince Friso and Muamba are totally different, the difference is the time the brain was without oxygen. In Muamba's case CPR was started almost immediately and his brain was not deprived of oxygen for much time, and he was probably given extra oxygen from an oxygen mask in the ambulance, if not already on the football field.

Prince Friso was buried under the snow, an environment without oxygen, his hypoxia was an hypoxic hypoxia, a total lack of oxygen to his blood. I found this in Wikipedia:
In hypoxic hypoxia 95-100% saturation is considered normal. 91-94% is considered mild. 86-90% is considered moderate. Anything below 86% is considered severe. -> Cerebral hypoxia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia So due to the time he was buried under the snow his blood saturation and thus also his cerebral saturation was below the critical 86% which makes his brain damage considered severe.

[Hendrik-Jan77]

H.M. the Queen and H.R.H. Princess Mabel have thanked the public again in this difficult time:

"It has touched us and our family deeply that so many people with their hearts are with Friso and share our concerns," wrote Beatrix and Mabel in personal, signed statement from the Government Information Service.
"All the encouraging words, hopeful wishes, poignant messages, prayers and flowers are of great support and give us courage in this difficult time of uncertainty. Your compassion means a lot to us. "
"We would like to thank, on behalf of our family, all who in any way whatsoever have testified of their feelings of connectedness." said Beatrix and Mabel.
Even people from abroad feel with them, wrote the Queen and the Princess.

[lucien]

Joint message by HM Queen Beatrix and HRH Princess Mabel as was issued by the Government Information Service this afternoon:

http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/nieuws/...prinses-mabel/

The Family indeed is deeply moved.

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[Marengo]

According to the Volkskrant they also mentioned that they have received much letters etc. from abroad too. I can't find this in the statement though.

Added: Now the article seems to have disappeared from their website all together.

---

Other news from royalblog: the Belgian company telenet decided that they will keep 'mr. Friso van Orange-Nassau' in the board of directors for now. His term will end in 2014 but considering the situation they found it inappropriate to chang things at this point.

ROYALBLOG.NL: Telenet houdt Friso in het bestuur

[lucien]

No,the article is still up Marengo,nothing changed,but you might have to scroll a bit...
The bit about the letters from abroad is in;" Vanuit de hele Nederlandse samenleving en ook daarbuiten hebben ons etc etc...

[Patra]

What a well written statement, from the heart, IMO.

[Kataryn]

I am very glad that the queen and princess Mabel see the public interest in Friso's fate not as intrusion but see that it's because the people who contact them, discuss the situation and are interested in news are feeling with them, worrying with them and want to help a bit through showing that they feel compassion and would want to share the burden, if only they could.

As a Royal family they are so much more than just people one knows about. The way they serve their people makes one wish there was any kind of help to be given in return. If feeling with them is helping a bit, then that makes me very happy.

[maria-olivia]

Have you seen on the farewell after this two funeral days in Belgium how warm was the attitude of our King towards the Prince of Orange.

[marine2109]

Friso of the Netherlands, in a coma, kept his position as manager at Telenet

Friso de Holanda, en estado de coma, mantiene su cargo de directivo

Google Google Translate

[Hendrik-Jan77]

I just read this months' 'Royals'; a Dutch/Belgian magazine about Royal Families.
In it there is always a column of Jeroen Snel, a Dutch royal reporter.
This months' column is called 'Je maintiendrai' and it's about how the Royal Family is coping with the situation of Prince Friso.
Mr. Snel claims that he has it from reliable sources that the Prince, at the moment, is still hooked on respiration equipment.
I tend to believe him. Jeroen Snel is a serious reporter and always has good sources.
I am wondering what this information means for the condition of the Prince.
It would mean, in my opinion, that the Prince can't breathe on his own.
In general, medical experts claim that more can be said about prospects of patiënts who are in a coma after cardiac arrest, after 3 months.
In Friso's case that would mean around the 17th next month.
If Mr. Snel's information is right, it could mean that when Friso's condition hasn't improved after 3 months in a coma, he could be declared brain dead. That also means his family could decide to take him of the respiration equipment.
I do not know what is best, but I have a feeling that the Royal Family is taking this time to get used to this new situation and are gradually saying their farewells to him.
Realistically; I think in Friso's case rehabilitation is out of the question.
I notice that the Queen in the last couple of weeks often wears black and purple (mourning colours) and in this symbolical way shows to her people how serious her son's condition is and to prepare for the worst...

[COUNTESS]

I think you are quite right and Mr. Snel sounds serious and reliable. Being on a respirator for many months bodes no good. Infections, failing organs, etc. I, think, they wanted to see if their was a glimmer of hope. You can't blame them. I, too, think, rehabilitation, is not a possibility, now.

[MsPam]

My heart skips a beat ever time I see this topic pop back up. I hurt for them.

[Baroness of Books]

My sentiments exactly, MsPam, I get the same reaction when I see this thread pop up thinking there are updated reports. I have a feeling this is a period of the "long goodbye" for the royal family. So sad.

[rominet09]

Same feeling here and Mabel doesn't any longer visit her twitter account... which is normal of course ! She has much more important things to think about like getting her little daughters used to the absence of their beloved father !

[COUNTESS]

A rock and a hard place. Unfortunately, that's where they are. But, you cannot heal, until the final act.