Update on Sweetie (cpr and AED patient)

The guy I did CPR and used the AED on is home and resting. They put a pacemaker in him. Actually he got the pacemaker for his 34th birthday. He is back to himself with a few temporary physical limitations. Most of those limitations are from the cpr and not from the cardiac arrest. The docs said his heart actually did not completely stop, instead they expect he went into a vtach, basically his heart lost its rythym, and just laid there quivering like a bowl of jello. It was definately not moving blood therefore not moving the oxygen needed to support the rest of his organs. He told me he will be thinking about me everytime he laughs, coughs or sneezes for the next 5-6 months, he has broken enough ribs as a sport bike racer that he sure knows the feeling. Any way he is doing great and the Company has now got us "trained" and has put the AED's in service. With a little luck Sweetie will be back to work in about 2 weeks. Not too bad at all considering a little over a week ago he had no life signs and had to come back from the other side.



See you out there
Smokey

Good job Smokey.........

congrats to him for pulling through and congrats to you for having the courage to face the unknown with such a heavy responsibility.

I am sure (like me) he would gladly accept all ribs broken for the help you gave.

Don't be afraid to keep that feather in your hat for the rest of your life.

WacoBill

I am glad sweetie came through as well as he did. I also do not understand what a company would be thinking having the equipment without doing the training. The Municipality I work for got us trained while waiting on the order for their units to be processed. Definately display your feather in your cap proudly, I am sure sweetie will remember long after the pain of the ribs is gone.

If you aint breaking ribs, you aint pumping hard enough.

Muntz wrote:If you aint breaking ribs, you aint pumping hard enough.

Exactly what the CPR instructor told us when we got certified. I'd hate broke ribs but I'd hate being dead more.

Muntz, funny you should say that, cause when I walked into the control room there was a guy attemting compressions. He looked like he was doing TV cpr where all the push is being lost in his shoulders. I told him MOVE< IF YOU AINT BREAKING RIBS YOU AINT DOING IT RIGHT.
I will admit that during the event I wondered if I were doing him any favors if he made it. With the cancer and all.... but I also knew it was exactly what he wanted. The dude is nothing if not scrappy. He has been dealing with the cancer for 4 years now and has life plans out 2 years. And no that is not his being naive. He just has no doubt that he will be here to do it. And he will tell you too that if he aint it's not because he gave up. He truly is my hero. One tough fella. He told me that he owed me for what I did......hell no he don't, he did the hard part. Also told him that if he felt that he owed me something that if he just gets his ass back to work we are even. He has got to be the strongest most driven person I know. I will get up feeling bad and be considering calling off for the day .... then think about Sweetie and there is no way in hell I can call off.
Okay enough jabber, Y'all have a great day. And tell those around you what they mean to you.


See you out there
Smokey

Thanks for the update on "Sweetie". Good job, Smokey! I know you don't do nothing halfway, so breaking ribs were a gimme!


.......................bobby

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smokey2255 wrote:Muntz, funny you should say that, cause when I walked into the control room there was a guy attemting compressions. He looked like he was doing TV cpr where all the push is being lost in his shoulders. I told him MOVE< IF YOU AINT BREAKING RIBS YOU AINT DOING IT RIGHT.
I will admit that during the event I wondered if I were doing him any favors if he made it. With the cancer and all.... but I also knew it was exactly what he wanted. The dude is nothing if not scrappy. He has been dealing with the cancer for 4 years now and has life plans out 2 years. And no that is not his being naive. He just has no doubt that he will be here to do it. And he will tell you too that if he aint it's not because he gave up. He truly is my hero. One tough fella. He told me that he owed me for what I did......hell no he don't, he did the hard part. Also told him that if he felt that he owed me something that if he just gets his ass back to work we are even. He has got to be the strongest most driven person I know. I will get up feeling bad and be considering calling off for the day .... then think about Sweetie and there is no way in hell I can call off.
Okay enough jabber, Y'all have a great day. And tell those around you what they mean to you.


See you out there
Smokey

The reason I said that was during my first ever actual cpr on someone I heard this weird pop. I looked at the fireman that was with me and said what in the hell was that? He said you just broke her rib, and if you want to save her life you will break a few more, good job, keep going. Well I knew they breifly mentioned that you may break a rib but that was it. The sound of breaking 4 or 5 ribs and continuing to do compressions is a litttle disturbing if you let your mind wander. But the adrenaline kicks back in and you refocus. My first patient, we brought her back 3x the doctors emptied 2 crash carts in the ER on her, but she didn't make it.

Muntz, Don't feel bad about losing one. This was my 7th and only 2 have made it, The other was a 19 yr old kid that drown. Luckily another kid found him and I was able to drag him close enough to shore to touch bottom and start cpr, After doing a couple rounds on him in the water, I had to drag him up on the bank by myself, everyone else that was there was too "freaked out" to even help drag him out. I had him breathing on his own when the ems showed up. The cop that showed up knew the kid and constanly kept asking him what drugs he was on. After the 3rd time of me telling him that there were no drugs that the kids had all been sitting at my table all morning (as this happened at about 2 in the afternoon) I got ugly with the cop and he finally backed down. Now the cop won't talk to me anymore. His loss cause I am a hell of a nice guy, my opinion anyway. As for the other 5 cpr events I have been apart of, they lived longer due to my efforts than they would have. It was their time to meet their maker. I know it's easy to say and all but that;s just what you have to do. I could tell you stories about the others but there were no happy endings. And like a good massage it's always better with a happy ending


See you out there
Smokey

Yeah I thought that after we had done all we could, it was just her time to go. Some just don't make it. But you must give them the chance.