I'm 74 in Sept, two heart bypass surgeries, had 3 pacemaker/defib implants, but what I went through last week was for Me, a miracle!
On Monday the 29th I was about an 1/8 of a mile down the street I live on, I was feeding and watering some neglected dogs, one of them was unresponsive, looked like a snake had bitten him on the nose. I went to the car to clear a space for him so I could get him to a doctor, I turned around to back up closer to him, when I turned the corner WHAM!
My defibrillator fired and about knock my hands of the wheel, it feels like being kicked in the chest by a mule, I headed to the end of the street where My house is, it fired two more times before I got home, I arrived blowing the horn to get My GF to come out and call 911, it fires again, she's screamed and told Me she loved me and dialed 911, it fired twice while waiting for EMT, the when they did arrive it fired twice more before they got me out of the car and on a gurney.
After being loaded into the EMT truck, it fired again and this time it knocked me out, I think they thought they lost Me, I did come to, they were saying it was to late to life flight Me, and didn't want to take me to the nearest ER, I must have been to critical, and seem to be trying to figure out whose going and whose driving, I could hear everything, and I didn't think I could take much more of a pounding!
I don't remember arriving at the ER about 12 miles away in the next county, I do remember the defib firing again, I was semi conscious and on an ER bed, They doctor had to get a breathing tube in me and sedate Me more, the feeling of having that tube was unbearable, and I started chocking on phlegm, and I remember My GF telling the doctor and trying to wipe it away, the awful thing is I could hear everything but couldn't move or open My eyes. Again life flight was down due to visibility, and they didn't have an EMT driver to transport me to Emory in Atlanta, I was to critical for them also.
I don't remember anything about that ride or arriving at the hospital, I remember some voices, but nothing I remember.
I woke up the evening in ICU, they had performed a cardiac catheterization on me and the news wasn't good, three arteries blocked the the fourth partially blocked, not good to say the least.
The doctors came around to see me and told me I had been shocked nineteen times and what I experienced was what the called a fibrillation "storm", I asked if being shocked nineteen times was unusual, She said not when You have a "storm", but it's unusual to have a storm.
I spent 3 days in ICU and 2 days on the floor, I was discharged Friday afternoon, if that's not a miracle that still I'm here, it's a miracle I was close to My house, it's miracle i didn't wreck or hit someone else, now if those aren't miracles I don't know what is.
Saurday morning about nine o'clock My defibrillator alarm goes off and I thinking please, please don't do this again, I can't take it and I won't make it this time, I call 911 and the EMT's show up, I get in back and they do a EKG and tell me the chart looks go and wether I want to go to the ER, I decline and had an uneventful Saturday, Sunday morning is another alarm, I don't do anything and Monday I go in to have the device interrogated for events, there are none, the alarm was for a low battery, I guess so, they must put Optima in these things the way they kick.
The 21st I have to go in for outpatient surgery to replace my implant, the doctor was surprise I could put two clear sentence's together after the last time She saw Me, Yesterday I went to Atlanta to have the alarm disabled, but this thing's still active, it's like walking around with a bomb in my chest that could go off at anytime, I take things very easy now, no alcohol, different diet, the end is inevitable but I want to prolong it a much as I can.
On Monday the 29th I was about an 1/8 of a mile down the street I live on, I was feeding and watering some neglected dogs, one of them was unresponsive, looked like a snake had bitten him on the nose. I went to the car to clear a space for him so I could get him to a doctor, I turned around to back up closer to him, when I turned the corner WHAM!
My defibrillator fired and about knock my hands of the wheel, it feels like being kicked in the chest by a mule, I headed to the end of the street where My house is, it fired two more times before I got home, I arrived blowing the horn to get My GF to come out and call 911, it fires again, she's screamed and told Me she loved me and dialed 911, it fired twice while waiting for EMT, the when they did arrive it fired twice more before they got me out of the car and on a gurney.
After being loaded into the EMT truck, it fired again and this time it knocked me out, I think they thought they lost Me, I did come to, they were saying it was to late to life flight Me, and didn't want to take me to the nearest ER, I must have been to critical, and seem to be trying to figure out whose going and whose driving, I could hear everything, and I didn't think I could take much more of a pounding!
I don't remember arriving at the ER about 12 miles away in the next county, I do remember the defib firing again, I was semi conscious and on an ER bed, They doctor had to get a breathing tube in me and sedate Me more, the feeling of having that tube was unbearable, and I started chocking on phlegm, and I remember My GF telling the doctor and trying to wipe it away, the awful thing is I could hear everything but couldn't move or open My eyes. Again life flight was down due to visibility, and they didn't have an EMT driver to transport me to Emory in Atlanta, I was to critical for them also.
I don't remember anything about that ride or arriving at the hospital, I remember some voices, but nothing I remember.
I woke up the evening in ICU, they had performed a cardiac catheterization on me and the news wasn't good, three arteries blocked the the fourth partially blocked, not good to say the least.
The doctors came around to see me and told me I had been shocked nineteen times and what I experienced was what the called a fibrillation "storm", I asked if being shocked nineteen times was unusual, She said not when You have a "storm", but it's unusual to have a storm.
I spent 3 days in ICU and 2 days on the floor, I was discharged Friday afternoon, if that's not a miracle that still I'm here, it's a miracle I was close to My house, it's miracle i didn't wreck or hit someone else, now if those aren't miracles I don't know what is.
Saurday morning about nine o'clock My defibrillator alarm goes off and I thinking please, please don't do this again, I can't take it and I won't make it this time, I call 911 and the EMT's show up, I get in back and they do a EKG and tell me the chart looks go and wether I want to go to the ER, I decline and had an uneventful Saturday, Sunday morning is another alarm, I don't do anything and Monday I go in to have the device interrogated for events, there are none, the alarm was for a low battery, I guess so, they must put Optima in these things the way they kick.
The 21st I have to go in for outpatient surgery to replace my implant, the doctor was surprise I could put two clear sentence's together after the last time She saw Me, Yesterday I went to Atlanta to have the alarm disabled, but this thing's still active, it's like walking around with a bomb in my chest that could go off at anytime, I take things very easy now, no alcohol, different diet, the end is inevitable but I want to prolong it a much as I can.
Hang in there!
