I witnessed a miracle.

Last week a gentleman aged 45 was at home at 8.30pm on a weekend night. He called an ambulance due to chest pain. The ambulance arrived and did an ECG which they sent through to the Emergency Doctors via telecommunications from the ambulance. The Dr's read the ECG and quickly advised that the patient was in fact have a heart attack. A pager was sent out for a stemi call. This involved the resus team in the ED getting ready for the patients arrival and also due to it being out of hours, a pager goes out to the on call team for the Cath Lab to come straight in.

The patient arrived about 10 minutes later and was concious and talking. He was told he probably has a blockage and the team was on its way and he would be going upstairs for an angiogram. As we were preparing the patient i noticed his eyes suddenly roll back in his head and he flatlined. The defibrillator pads were attached to his chest and within 30 seconds he received a shock. The patient came too straight away and was calmly told by the ED nurse what had happened. Within another 3 minutes the patient again arrested. Again, he was shocked and brought back this time when concious he had a massive vomit. The decision was made to intubate the patient. Before he could be intubated he again arrested and was shocked again. Once concious he was told again what was happening and that the team was on its way and that a breathing tube was going to be inserted. He was intubated and in the half hour it took for the team to arrive and prepare the patient again arrested and was shocked back to life a total of 11 times.

We got the call the team was ready and the patient was rushed to the Cath Lab. It was established that the patient had a 100% blockage. A stent was inserted and the ICU team was called. They arrived while the patient was being stented and the patient was transferred to the ICU unit after the procedure. My shift was over about 1 hour after the procedure was complete.

I arrived the next day for my shift and found the patient had been extubated, was sitting up in bed, and had basically no memory of the previous night except for seeing some bright lights. He had been informed of what had happened. He considered himself to be the "luckiest bugger" alive and planned on buying a lottery ticket when he was released from hospital 3 days later.

So what prompts me to tell you this story.....only a week after witnessing this i watched on late night t.v the Michael Moore doco "Sicko" last night. Holy crap.

Total cost to this patient = $0. Was he rich.....god no. I would consider him "working poor". He has a job but would live paycheck to paycheck.

Was he blessed...in my opinion yes. Not too many people die over 11 times in 40 minutes and walk out a hospital in 4 days. After last night i also realise that I am in fact blessed to have been born in this country.

Interesting story, and congratulations to all those that helped this man survive. But, perhaps I misread it, I don't see where the miracle occurred?

a reply to: bellagirl

Pardon my lack of medical knowledge but when a patient arrests is he instantly considered dead? How long was he arrested before responding to the shocks? How long does one go flat lined before considered dead?

I apologize for the insensitive questions if offending anyone.

I dont know about miracle but he is definately harder to start than my old Ford

a reply to: Ultralight

In laymen's terms because of the extent of the blockage and the position in the heart he was having the kind of heart attack where you are usually dead before you hit the ground. It would take appoximately 30 seconds from the time he his heart stopped to shock him. CPR was performed during this time. After the shock, it would restart his heart till the next one which was approx 3 minutes apart.

a reply to: Ultralight

I think what the OP is saying is that if it wasnt for the quick response, trained technicians, and living in a "1st" world country.. The man would be dead. Any one of those heart attacks would have killed him if he was anywhere else but a hospital.
The miracle is him being at the right place right time. Anyone that survives death has also experienced a miracle imo

originally posted by: Ghost147
Interesting story, and congratulations to all those that helped this man survive. But, perhaps I misread it, I don't see where the miracle occurred?

Maybe not in your eyes.....but would you really want to question it if your heart stopped over 11 times in 40 minutes and you walked out of hospital only 4 days later.

Something i forgot to add, his brother dropped dead only 12 months ago from the same condition. The cardiologist spoke with the family that night and organized for all his brothers and sisters to be check immediately
this week for the same condition.

a reply to: iFloButta

No , I get that. My father passed from a heart attack and arrested 4 times and did not come back from his 5th. I was asking because it never occured to me he may have "died" 4 times prior to his death.

originally posted by: Ultralight
a reply to: iFloButta

No , I get that. My father passed from a heart attack and arrested 4 times and did not come back from his 5th. I was asking because it never occured to me he may have "died" 4 times prior to his death.

I am so sorry to hear this about your dad, and i hope my post has not brought back painful memories. Unfortunately, in my 12 years this has been the case on more than 90% of occasions.

I remember not long after i first started a child was brought in who had fell in a swimming pool. I am not religious but after watching him being worked on and them getting a heart beat i mentioned to someone that i was praying they would get a heartbeat. there words to me were "sometimes you have to be careful what you pray for". After 12 years, i have to say i dont think i have ever heard a truer word spoken.

Great Account Bellagirl, my Grand Mother died on the operating table here in Perth a few decades ago and had an out of body experience to bring back with her to tell. Did your patient mention anything about the beyond ?

originally posted by: mazzroth
Great Account Bellagirl, my Grand Mother died on the operating table here in Perth a few decades ago and had an out of body experience to bring back with her to tell. Did your patient mention anything about the beyond ?

No....just bright lights but that could have been the medical lights.

I believe your grandma......we go somewhere. Is it heaven ??? i dont know.

originally posted by: bellagirl

originally posted by: mazzroth
Great Account Bellagirl, my Grand Mother died on the operating table here in Perth a few decades ago and had an out of body experience to bring back with her to tell. Did your patient mention anything about the beyond ?

No....just bright lights but that could have been the medical lights.

I believe your grandma......we go somewhere. Is it heaven ??? i dont know.

She met a relative who basically said "Eve its not your time, you have to go back" but the interesting things she said were in the detail. Initially she floated out of her body and saw all the nurses and surgeon rushing around panicking trying to resuscitate her and she even remembered the specific words used that she later relayed back to the surgeon to prove she saw and heard what they did. The next detail was her being visited by a long deceased Aunt her spoke the words above to her, now my Nana also in detail recounted to me the colours and visual aura's around her and that she felt the place she was in was more real than this one. She also paid 0$ and lived a long life dying only a few years ago at the age of 91 after a fall where she broke her hip.

a reply to: bellagirl

No, I am okay with your post in regards for my father's passing. I know the horrible pain he lived in everyday, having lost his sternum to staph and both legs to diabetis. I just never gave rise to thinking how he felt those moments when his heart was shocked back into life.

I have a niece who is an E.R. doctor at a hospital far from us. She tells me of the miracles she witnesses and the privilege she has in helping those who put their very lives in her caring hands. She is of the same mindset as you. She is a beautiful soul and a truly caring physician. She attributes this to the suffering of her grandfather, my dad.
His E.R doctors were less than kind.

Thank you for bringing back memories of the last moments I had with my father. They were beautiful. He died feeling the love of his family around him.

Blessings.

a reply to: bellagirl

Miracle, indeed! Sometimes, God just decides it isn't time yet for a person to go. Someone I know had 96% blockage, and made it. The docs said she should have been dead.

a reply to: bellagirl

No, I would still consider it the work of medical practitioners, not some holy divine spirit. Why is it so unlikely that a man/woman saved his life, not a god?

What's miraculous is that they shocked an asystole. If he actually "flatlined", you'd never give them an electricity transfusion. That's a TV procedure.

Cardioversion is for v-tach, v-fib, sometimes for SVTs or a-fibs. But never for a flatline.

I don't consider that a Miracle, I consider it a good job by the people working at the hospital.

Maybe since you work there, you might consider him surviving this event as a miracle . After all, you do know the people working there better than us.

originally posted by: bellagirl
Total cost to this patient = $0. Was he rich.....god no. I would consider him "working poor". He has a job but would live paycheck to paycheck.

Yeah, good thing he lives in the so called 'lucky country'. It would have cost him a fortune, just for daring to have his life saved in the US.

But I don't see the miracle. Just clear evidence of dedicated staff and a high quality free healthcare system.

a reply to: bellagirl

No miracle here. Sometimes doctors save them sometimes not. The funny part is that he seeks money after he had 11 heart stops. They say, when you die and come back your life change for the better, you get enlightened, awake. I guess this guy died 11 times, but after that he seeks a lottery ticket.

OMG

a reply to: saadad

lol. But that's just the mentality you'd expect in a superficial materialistic society.