And then the movie patient pops up and smiles and everything is perfectly restored back to normal instead of, “Oh, we convinced your heart to start beating again, but you’re still unconscious probably because you have brain damage, your kidneys are dying, your blood is acidic, and now we’re gonna put you on a breathing machine. Best wishes!”
My wife and I have both taken CPR classes together. She has very strict wishes about when I should render aid to her. Basically there has to be a 90% chance of an almost instant full recovery before I’m allowed to help her at all if something goes wrong. She knows the risks and so do I. I’m supposed to give her up so I don’t let her down.
Basically there has to be a 90% chance of an almost instant full recovery before I’m allowed to help her at all
Are you able to make the determination, or just haven’t taken a CPR class?
I ask because that’s a lot of pressure put on you, to try to make that kind of emergency diagnosis, especially if you’re not in the medical profession.
There are two things my wife wanted me to know when I started dating her. The first was that she was polyamorous. And the second was that she has always wanted to be dead. That last one has changed over the years she has known me. But the CPR class didn’t educate me on the risks of CPR. That I have learned from other sources. I know eventually this will result in cops and lawyers to cause me problems. But she is still very firm on the idea that it should never render aid to her unless it’s going to be a quick fix. She cannot stand the idea of being a burden to anyone.
I’m still intensely proud of myself for the one time I caved a guy’s sternum in and he woke up to complain about it.
I was an ER tech at the time and he coded in CT (it’s always in CT). So there was a nurse riding the gurney doing compressions while they brought him to the resuscitation bay where I took over compressions. I cracked his sternum on the third compression because, despite having about 75 pounds on me and being on top of the guy, the nurse hadn’t cracked a rib or gotten perfusion. Unfortunately, someone had lost the CPR stool in the resus bay, and I was the only person tall enough to do compressions, so I did it for the full 11 minutes or so of the code in full isolation gear (because Covid). On the second round of amiodarone and defibrillation, he woke up and started fighting the tube that had been placed a few minutes prior. The first thing he said when he came to was that his chest hurt.
He was awake and talking to his family a couple hours later when I took him up to the ICU after all the admission paperwork and whatnot was done.
Why is it always in CT??? That’s an incredible save, if the first round of compressions weren’t really effective. I can’t even imagine doing compressions for 11 minutes at all, let alone in isolation gear. I think I’d join the patient, if I tried that.
I was sweaty as heck and completely winded by the end of it, but the notion that you are currently responsible for a person’s life and brain with their family in the hallway outside makes for good motivation.
And then the movie patient pops up and smiles and everything is perfectly restored back to normal instead of, “Oh, we convinced your heart to start beating again, but you’re still unconscious probably because you have brain damage, your kidneys are dying, your blood is acidic, and now we’re gonna put you on a breathing machine. Best wishes!”
My wife and I have both taken CPR classes together. She has very strict wishes about when I should render aid to her. Basically there has to be a 90% chance of an almost instant full recovery before I’m allowed to help her at all if something goes wrong. She knows the risks and so do I. I’m supposed to give her up so I don’t let her down.
Are you able to make the determination, or just haven’t taken a CPR class?
I ask because that’s a lot of pressure put on you, to try to make that kind of emergency diagnosis, especially if you’re not in the medical profession.
There are two things my wife wanted me to know when I started dating her. The first was that she was polyamorous. And the second was that she has always wanted to be dead. That last one has changed over the years she has known me. But the CPR class didn’t educate me on the risks of CPR. That I have learned from other sources. I know eventually this will result in cops and lawyers to cause me problems. But she is still very firm on the idea that it should never render aid to her unless it’s going to be a quick fix. She cannot stand the idea of being a burden to anyone.
Make sure she gets an advance medical directive. I keep forgetting to set one up, but basically you can say when you can be revived, etc
Remind her you will have a lifetime burden of guilt if you don’t attempt to resuscitate her
I’d have a lifetime of guilt if she was there staring into empty space. There is no easy answer.
I’m still intensely proud of myself for the one time I caved a guy’s sternum in and he woke up to complain about it.
I was an ER tech at the time and he coded in CT (it’s always in CT). So there was a nurse riding the gurney doing compressions while they brought him to the resuscitation bay where I took over compressions. I cracked his sternum on the third compression because, despite having about 75 pounds on me and being on top of the guy, the nurse hadn’t cracked a rib or gotten perfusion. Unfortunately, someone had lost the CPR stool in the resus bay, and I was the only person tall enough to do compressions, so I did it for the full 11 minutes or so of the code in full isolation gear (because Covid). On the second round of amiodarone and defibrillation, he woke up and started fighting the tube that had been placed a few minutes prior. The first thing he said when he came to was that his chest hurt.
He was awake and talking to his family a couple hours later when I took him up to the ICU after all the admission paperwork and whatnot was done.
Why is it always in CT??? That’s an incredible save, if the first round of compressions weren’t really effective. I can’t even imagine doing compressions for 11 minutes at all, let alone in isolation gear. I think I’d join the patient, if I tried that.
I was sweaty as heck and completely winded by the end of it, but the notion that you are currently responsible for a person’s life and brain with their family in the hallway outside makes for good motivation.