ask: What does it mean when in a coma and can open eyes and blink on command

Hello kljmiller54-

This is extremely difficult to answer without more information about the situation. However, there are many levels of consciousness, and sometimes a person who seems completely unresponsive is able to follow a few simple commands like blink or squeeze my hand. This can mean the person is slowly coming back to consciousness after a severe head injury or brain surgery, but in your case I don't know what it means.

It is a signal that the person is in there and hearing you. We always encouraged family to speak to unconscious relatives on the hospital neurosurgery unit because it seems to help and the patients often remembered things that were said while they seemed completely unconscious.

There are levels of consciousness in between alert and normal, and coma. It may be that the person you are concerned with is in one of these levels. A good source of information is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke http://www.ninds.nih.gov/

Please let us know if we can help you further.

This could be a case when patient regained consciousness but exhibits signs of neuronal de-efferentation (resulting in paralysis of all four limbs and the lower cranial
nerves). This condition called “the Locked-In Syndrome”. The most common cause is a lesion of the midpons of the brainstem that interrupts descending cortical control of motor functions. Such patients usually retain control of vertical eye movements and eyelid opening, which can be used to verify their responsiveness.