Personal Narrative: Cardiac Arrest

Cozy coffee shops, warm summers, friendly hugs…1.2.3. Disastrous events occur all the time. We are always aware that someone, somewhere in the world, is hurtling forwards into tragedy. Tragic endings leave behind unanswered questions, unfulfilled dreams, unspoken thoughts. Those who love you are left behind, in the dust of your presence, spent to forever remember only your memory, not your existence. Crisp slices of toast, piping hot cups of tea, fresh strawberries…1.2.3. We all tend to forget an end exists. We spend our lives compiling as many happy memories as we can, fully enjoying the good days, deeply mourning the sad ones. When tragedy strikes, only then are we reminded that the end is there, and we scurry and try once again to make the most out of

Clipboard and stethoscope in hand, I walked toward the double doors that flashed emergency in bright red letters above. It was my first clinical shift as an EMT student, and first day jitters flittered around in my stomach, I had no idea what to expect. However, I was not expecting to witness the fragility of life. About a half an hour into my shift the rapid response alarm blared through the emergency room. I turned to my preceptor and quizzically asked what this meant. “A rapid response is a patient who is in need of immediate medical care and intervention. As an EMT who is part of the rapid response team you will be expected to assist with vitals and chest compressions. Let’s head toward the recess room, and I’ll explain more there.” Eventually, we reached the recess room, and the rapid response team was already there preparing for the arrival of the patient. A nurse was on the phone with the firefighters that were bringing the patient in. Seconds later she announced “It’s a STEMI”. Then fright ran through my veins. A STEMI is medical jargon for a segment elevation on an EKG. In other words the patient’s coronary artery is completely occluded. The patient is suffering from a heart attack. Prior to this, I had never seen someone who was having a heart attack. However, the thing that terrified me the most was that I knew I would be expected to perform chest compressions. I had only ever performed chest compressions on a dummy.

I feel that my experiences and goals closely align with the UWSOM’s mission. During my shadowing internship with Northwestern Medicine, I found that nearly every medical specialty I observed peaked my interest, but I could most clearly envision myself thriving in primary care. I specifically enjoy family medicine and building lasting relationships with patients, as well as internal medicine and seeing a wide variety of cases on a daily basis.

Why? Well, I personally have a heart condition. I was born with left Valve Stenosis witch means my heart has to work harder to pump blood though the valve and my body can suffer with less oxogen. With having this condition I do have chest pains, more then anyone has. The wild part is I can not take birth control because there is a lot of effects within the heart. I’ve had an inhaler many times to help with my breathing and multiple open heart surgeries. With my condition there are many things in this world I am not able to do, such as I have to be a certain weight. As for me I can’t weaigh over 120 pounds, I can’t go on roller costers, I can’t have too much salt, and I’m very limited on working out and I can’t skip meals and being stress is not great for my heart.

This paper will be going over a scenario involving a real patient and what things could have been different with EMS care. It will also be covering what exactly cardiac arrest is and what rhythms produce it. And for every cardiac rhythm in cardiac arrest, there is a specific treatment plan paramedics can follow.

The surgery I had was a pretty major surgery some could say, four though six hours and it's compared as open heart surgery. It wasn't the surgical pain though that caused me to stay there longer then i was supposed to no, it was some kind of nerve pain that even the doctors and nurses had know idea what to do. My case was so uncommon they sent me into ICU after fives days of being in pain two hours three times a day. Not knowing what to do the nurses would just shoot me up with a bunch of drugs just to calm down the pain and all I could do was watch as this was all happening while gasping for air.

Clipboard and stethoscope in hand, I walked toward the double doors that flashed emergency in bright red letters above. It was my first clinical shift as an EMT student, and first day jitters fluttered around in my stomach. I had no idea what lay ahead of me. However, I was not expecting to witness the fragility of life. About a half an hour into my shift the rapid response alarm blared through the emergency room. I turned to my preceptor and quizzically asked what this meant. “A rapid response is a patient who is in need of immediate medical care and intervention. As an EMT who is part of the rapid response team you will be expected to assist with vitals and chest compressions. Let’s head toward the recess room, and I’ll explain more there.”

November 25, 2000; my night of bartending had come to an end. At 25-years-old, things were looking great for me. I was young, healthy, extremely good looking… or hot I you will, like gorgeous. Did I mention young? Anyway, things were looking great. I also had met the love of my life and we had been discussing the possibility of marriage. As I finished counting my drawer, the left side of my body went numb. My corner of my face drooped as the world began to spin and echo. An ambulance was called and I was rushed to the hospital. I had a stroke.

Well this year was a hell of a year. I mean, i didn't pass any of the semesters but i did observe a ton of stuff that went on in the class. The class in general was pretty lit. Every day went by and i honestly did some work. The class was ready to learn as mrs g was ready to teach. I mean yea we had some days were we didn't want to learn anything and there were also days when mrs g didn't want to teach. But ima be honest, doing the work we did wasn't in my best interest. Most of the projects we did in class i worked on, but at the end i didn't end up liking how i did it so i wouldn't even bother turning anything in. like the obituary we had to write about ourselves. I liked the meaning behind this but honestly i didn't want to work on that because it just brought back memories of my friends that were killed.

After the incident, there were multiple Acute Critical Stress Symptoms that have occurred. Upon discovering the hole on the fuel truck, I froze and slowly climbed down the truck, myself and the driver of the truck assumed that the mortar round was inside the truck (it turned out, the mortar round hit the tank and ricochet and hit the ground, leaving an 8 inches hole). I have been thinking about the incident and the what if scenario kept playing on my head. There were a great deal of questions, such as, exposing my team to danger, to include the considerable amount of what could have gone wrong that could have loss many lives that night. I woke up several times with a cold sweat, nightmares, difficulty sleeping and fear of event repetition.

For most teenagers a normal day with their parents would include an activity like shopping or fishing. For me a normal day with my dad would last an hour at the most because of his cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a heart disease which causes swelling, fatigue, and abnormal heart rhythm. In order to try and reduce the symptoms my father has had multiple surgeries.

It was just another Friday at work when I received a phone call from the patient’s wife. She sounded very upset, almost crying. She asked me why we don’t want to test her husband’s pacemaker. I opened her husband’s file and there were notes explaining that patient’s cardiologist canceled the order to do the testing. Wanting to know why the order was canceled, I apologized to the woman and told her that I will call her back after I speak with the cardiologist. It was my second week on the job as an Administrative Assistant at Cardiac Diagnostics Inc., so my knowledge of pacemaker testing was very limited especially the reasons of why doctors stop the testing. Eager to find out the reason I called the cardiologist. He explained that the patient only has couple

One of the most challenging obstacles I have ever encountered and I had to overcome was losing the girl I love pass away from a severe heart disease. She has been the girl I loved since the first day of Kindergarten elementary. The very first day, we have greeted and went along pretty well.

It is a quarter to 10 o clock when I find myself driving steadily in the pitch black darkness of night on the freeway. My father is sitting uncomfortably in the passenger seat next to me and the entirety of the situation is extremely disquieting. Every couple of minutes I shudder at the sound of his cough. Not only does it sound and look agonizing but the sudden outbursts startle me every once in a while. The ride however does not proceed without dialogue as my father periodically gives me directions. Without them I feel I would not know how navigate to our destination on my own as I am still an inexperienced driver. We are on our way to the emergency room on what would have been an otherwise stale, uneventful school night. The whole time worst

Late in the fall of my sixteenth year, my heart stopped functioning and I went into cardiac arrest. One might think that a medical phenomenon like this is next to inconceivable, but despite the improbable conditions, I was part of the 0.1%.