Medical Cpr

[The Albatross]

Since this post was March 14... I was responding to posts 16, 17 and on. Thanks

 

[carol01]

Hi...
I need some advice/help. I tried to resuciatete my dad. 15 months ago. I failed .. I kept my self busy for around 8 month following it. I don't like to think of what happened. And I try to push away images of his face during the event. I have just started cbt therapy and the therapist says I'm just stuck in grief. What are your views

 

[RussH]

first let me tell you that the probabilities of resuscitating someone outside of the hospital are very slim, so don't blame yourself for his passing.
Watching your father die is a horrific experience, however the therapy, and time will help.
Sorry for your loss.

 

[Aylsm]

first let me tell you that the probabilities of resuscitating someone outside of the hospital are very sli...

One week ago I found my husband face down on the kitchen floor. I had been upstairs getting dressed and heard a loud noise (thud). No clue what it was so went downstairs and that visual will be forever etched in my mind. I knew by his color he was clinically dead. I had taken CPR 20yrs ago but also knew it had changed to compressions only. I guess similar to medical professionals I found myself detached from him and needed to do the job of keeping the blood flowing until rescue came which seemed like hours. Adrenaline kicked in and stayed kicked in until at least 24hrs later. I too am repeatedly going through how it all happened. He is 62, in good health, and had no prior symptoms. He had 100% blockage of the main right artery and went into cardiac arrest. Loud noises are the worst. Also, when I don't hear him walking around etc I'm always checking on him. I'm ok but may talk to my dr this week just to get something to take for a couple wks til I can wrap my head around this. He did survive which is a complete miracle because at home, in the ambulance, and cath lab he was shocked a total of 14 times. He should not be alive. The other thing I find myself doing is when I take a short trip to the grocery store or bank seeing people walking..whether they are elderly or out of shape I feel on edge that they might keel over and I'll have to perform CPR again. Although now I have confidence I could do it. My son is a dr and happened to be in town last week. He said any attempt at CPR is better than none. I wish kids were taught in high school health class. It should be mandatory.

 

[deanB]

HI,
im in england, worked in care since i started working and have several several service users die through the years and always managaed to stay detached. 3 weeks ago a woman of 73 who suffered with constant anxiety in the mental health field choked at the dinner table. I had been alerted by another service user who said he had patted her back. When i reached her she was still trying to talk about her anxieties but within a minute began choking, stood up and walked towards me. I tried back slaps and another SU who had been in the navy tried an abdominal thrust, as i took over to try an obdominal thrust she dropped to the floor. My colleague was on the phone to the emergency services and i began CPR on their directive as my head was not in any kind of state to recall training. I performed CPR for 15-20 mins i think before paramedics arrived and took over.
I cant get this flushed from my system. I run over it constantly, even subconsciously i realise im thinking about it. WE have the funeral tomorrow which probably accounts for my heightened anxiety tonight...really would rather not go but feel i should. Wow in 25 yrs of care ive never had anything take over me like this

 

[Barneygurl]

Hi...
I need some advice/help. I tried to resuciatete my dad. 15 months ago. I failed .. I kept my self busy for aroun...

It's been almost 9 months for me. I relive it about every about a week to 10 days. I need help.

 

[Bec240314]

Hello,

Over two years ago when I was 7 and then 8 months pregnant, my husband experience two cardiac arrests at home. The first time I did not do CPR but the ambulance officers revived him. Then he had a defibrillator put in which was meant to fix everything. What they didn't know was that it was the beta blockers that he was on since the first that was causing it. He was sent home and then two weeks later I heard that awful noise again. Sure enough having another one. I did do CPR this time with a neighbours help. He survived again. They took him off the medication with the instruction someone should be with him 24/7. A blood test taking 7 months came back negative. No more answers, I was in constant re-living mode for so long. I have suffered also with PTSD hence being on here. I have gotten better over the years. I think by just acknowledging that I having a flashback and its just a thought or its just a feeling not current reality. I find it hard to let go and not feel responsible in case it might happen again. I know having a personal faith in God has helped also. When it is time for a person to die then it's their time. It's hard to accept that we can't do anything about it though. Perhaps we have been giving a very special gift whether poorly executed or not, just to be able to try. It is not up to us what the outcome is. I just want to say to anyone reading this you aren't alone and well done for trying. Thanks.

 

[Anne1212]

So, I realize this thread is old but was grateful to find some others affected by performing CPR. I have a similar experience to Jennifer and Aylsm who posted a little more recently. I'm curious too, how everyone is doing at this point.

I performed CPR on my husband in the middle of the night at home when I woke up to him in distress and saw him collapse. I called 911 and did CPR (to best of my ability) for about 10 minutes. EMS shocked him and recovered a pulse but he was still unconscious. He was put under hypothermia treatment for 2 days and the doctors did not think he would survive when we arrived at the hospital. He was a healthy 33 year old with no symptoms and they can find no underlying cause. I sometimes have a hard time with my feelings because he did make a miraculous recovery (and he has no recollection of the entire thing).

I am currently in a counseling class at church and we have talked about how we store emotions as memories (as opposed to physical pain which you can't really recall). This is what brought me to look this up. I actually now work with my husband's cardiologist for an organization that teaches free Hands-Only CPR classes. I am obviously super passionate about the cause. However, I have been having some stress/anxiety related physical symptoms (I already know I struggle with some anxiety over my own health and just considering and having some worry a sudden event will occur) and now I wonder if this job is forcing me to continually stuff down my "emotional record" of the event over and over again (as I sit through trainings and videos every so often and constantly mention CPR in all my emails, etc). I wonder if there is a good way to work through this. I feel as thought many people who have suffered in a certain way end up working to help others with similar experiences, so I imagine this is something lots of people experience. But I also know chest pain, anxiety, etc is very bad for the body-if this job of mine is possibly a cause.

I want to mention I certainly suffered more severely for the first year or so. I would wake up and put my hand on my husband's back in the middle of the night to see if he was breathing and freak out if I couldn't get a hold of him. The hyper-sensitive fear for me did subside over time, but it is definitely a process.

 

[Amanda]

I am so sorry you have went through this beacause no one knows how you are feeling right now. Not even someone who has been through a similar experience. Every person is different and handles things in a different ways than the next. But I know the trauma is real.

November 10, 2017 at 10:57pm was the hardest day of my life. My great nephew whom was 3 months old was discovered by my sister(his gramndnother) unresponsive at my house with blood and vomit coming from his nose and mouth.

I got on the phone with 911 and I immediately had to start CPR on this baby. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my whole life. I couldn’t sleep....at 4 in the morning on the 12 th I finally went to sleep after 2 Tylenol pm’s. I had been up for 45 hours at that point.

I was having what I felt was irrational fear. I could not sleep in the dark. Not because I was afraid of the monster under the bed or anything; it was just silly to me.

My dad had also passed in my house a year prior. I had to see him dying as well. I know I never truly got over that. Seeing my dad pass was awful and I see it all the time in my dreams and any time I am near the room he passed in. It was horrible but compared nothing to what I am experiencing with this being an infant baby. My sweet darling great nephew.

My room in the back of my house is a constant reminder of my dad and now my room where my nephew was discovered and my living room floor where I performed the CPR are a constant reminder. Every time I close my eyes I see his little face and I just can’t bare it. My heart is also dying with pain from the other children in my house that night whom seen a dead infant. Their screams are haunting to my mind and heart. As their pain is overwhelming to my heart.

I also feel pain for my sister whom is the grandmother of the baby and for my nephew and his wife. As the parents of that sweet baby I can not begin to imagine the pain they are feeling and the thought of it breaks my heart beyond words.

 

[Jen09]

All of this breaks my heart. So much pain but it helps me to know others understand what I have been going through. Just a couple of weeks ago I was driving with my mom in the car.
She had no prior heart problems. She was talking about us going to lunch and then put her hand on her chest and collapsed. I was hysterical. I pulled off the road and called 911. They walked me through CPR before help arrived. Her lips was turning blue and I just knew she was gone but they worked on her for a long time. She was pronounced dead in the emergency room an hour later. My mom was my best friend and I cannot stop reliving these moments. I see her face constantly and can hear 911 counting on the phone walking me through chest compressions. The pain is unbearable. What could I have done differently. While I realize nothing is probably the answer but that doesn't make a difference. Thoughts and images are a constant. I am sorry for anyone else that has experience this.

 

[pamcoco]

Jen09 I am so sorry you have experienced this. I know it is not your fault, likely even in a medical facility she would have passed. But, the senses relive the trauma without your agreement. I am no expert, in any way, but I do know the guilt is a heavy weight to bear alone, especially considering our limited knowledge.
Still, it seems, that there are aspects of life and death that we will never completely understand, and this enigma is the beauty, and at times, darkness in life.
Be kind to you as your mother would have been.