A personal drama

[Cras]

That is quite a story Molson. Never like reading a post like that. Not a pleasent thing to read about, let alone see it up close. Hope everything turns out for the best, for everyone involved.

 

[Eccentrus]

Good thing that he was born in a nation full of educated people, where professionals (not on duty) are available in proximity when the disaster struck. I am struck in horror if the same scenario happen to me or anybody I know in here, since we don't really have that kind of luxury here.

If he can be agitated by the machinery then it is good, it means that at least the middle-higher functions of his brain is not damaged, so there's reason to believe that no higher cortical functions are damaged by the deoxygenated state of the cardiac arrest. He can move and try to fight the intubation is a good sign as well, even though not actually good for his body to try and do that, this means that no motoric functions are damaged, it involves a very complex neural circuitry just to interpret a signal (or discomfort here) to be processed by the brain and then translated into intent of move, which is then processed into the steps of the muscle contractions, which only then sent into the primary motor area and then sent down the spinal cord into his muscles, if this intricate network is left undamaged then like the above, it's a pretty clear sign that no other higher cortical functions are being damaged as well.

I can only imagine the pain of having been intubated, it is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but still it's what have been keeping him alive for the last few days.

I hope the best for your friend and his family, and I hope the cardiologists figure out what his condition is as soon as possible. I predict a very good prognosis in here, but don't count on it, I'm not yet qualified and still in training :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

I learned in the army, that you can ever be too young for a cardiac arrest. Good luck to your friend, lets hope he gets through it without brain damage, but it will take time to show.

And dgatsoulis, it is a huge difference if a stranger collapses in front of you or a friend. First aid for a stranger is much easier. It is sure a personal tragedy. And donating blood doesn't really help there, if there is no blood loss. Organizing first aid courses in your workplace or community would be better, much better. And also teach the first rule of first aid:

You can't make things as worse by doing something wrong as you can make them worse by doing nothing at all.

It takes a lot of such indoctrination until you stop being too scared to help.

 

[Ghostrider]

1. Why is this a "personal" drama? It was your friend that collapsed into a coma and if anyone can name this as "personal" it's him (if and when he comes back) and his family.

To some people, friends are part of an extended family. If a friend of mine goes through something bad, it hits home hard.

2. Some of the answers on this thread were: "I'll pray for you" or "My thoughts go out to you" and such. Sure, I'll do NOTHING and THAT's going to help?

It's called "kindness". BTW, sparing a thought for someone isn't "nothing". To most people it means a lot.

3.If you really want to help, go to your nearest hospital and donate some blood. If you want to take this a step further, take the blood exams-pay it for yourself- and donate plasma. It will not go to the recipient you want, but it WILL help a lot of other people.

I do that every 3 months and I'm also a registered bone marrow donor. Oh, and I also did first-aid spec in the Army and qualified for the mention. But this doesn't really matter because were I a bedridden lump of flesh with a lamp bulb to signal "yes" or "no" like that poor captain Pike from Star Trek, I would still offer my thoughts and prayers (even though I don't pray). It's called "empathy". Doesn't take to be a half-Betazoid to have it.

Can I offer my sympathies to the OP now, or do I have to pass some other tests?

 

[N_Molson]

1. Why is this a "personal" drama? It was your friend that collapsed into a coma and if anyone can name this as "personal" it's him (if and when he comes back) and his family.

I didn't know how to name the thread. My english skills are far from perfection. I know the title isn't good, but that's the best I could do. Sorry.

2. Some of the answers on this thread were: "I'll pray for you" or "My thoughts go out to you" and such. Sure, I'll do NOTHING and THAT's going to help?

It's called "kindness". BTW, sparing a thought for someone isn't "nothing". To most people it means a lot.

Or "compassion". It sure helps. Thank you all.

3.If you really want to help, go to your nearest hospital and donate some blood. If you want to take this a step further, take the blood exams-pay it for yourself- and donate plasma. It will not go to the recipient you want, but it WILL help a lot of other people.

When I'll have more distance to this event, I'll seriously consider passing more advanced first aid certifications (I have a basic one, but it only allowed me to call for a medic and drive people off the scene, which is better than nothing, I guess).

I know that visiting the guy at the hospital is part of a "therapy". The nurses know it too. But they accept it, and even gave me the service phone number, saying I could call 24/24 & 7/7 to ask for news. :shrug:

3b. Start a paypal account to pay for the poor man's medical bills. But you don't really have to, 'cause they'll be paid by the nation's insurance company.

I wouldn't be more fair to have people from other nations pay the bills. People from Greece from exemple ? I'll pay my share through taxes and salary cuts. The governement just announced a serie of mesures in this way. But I don't want to go politics here, especially on such a sensible topic as healthcare. There is a topic for that in the Basement. Thank you.

 

[Ripley]

Best wishes to your friend!
The worst seems over!

10 years ago I lost a very good friend in this way, he just felt down while sitting at a table in a bar, dead, and indeed it was a personal drama.

My sympathies to you.

 

[N_Molson]

10 years ago I lost a very good friend in this way, he just felt down while sitting at a table in a bar, dead

My sympathies, it must be a terrible experience.

My friend seems to recover rather quickly. Now has been extubated, can eat and speak. He recognize his family, friends, reminds memories of vacations, his interests for music, gardening, theater, is able to do some humor (very important), so, basically, he recovered what I would call his "personnality". That's a huge relief.

What is still unknown are how his physical abilities will be affected, if he will have trouble to walk again, etc... For now he his too weak to test that (well, his heart is too weak, else he is in fair condition), so it will take some time.

He is still in intensive care of the cardiology service, now the medics are really focusing on finding ways to restore the heart capacity and find a way to prevent this accident to happen again, which this time would be fatal.

So rather good news, really :jiggy:

 

[Mojave]

My sympathies, it must be a terrible experience.

My friend seems to recover rather quickly. Now has been extubated, can eat and speak. He recognize his family, friends, reminds memories of vacations, his interests for music, gardening, theater, is able to do some humor (very important), so, basically, he recovered what I would call his "personnality". That's a huge relief.

What is still unknown are how his physical abilities will be affected, if he will have trouble to walk again, etc... For now he his too weak to test that (well, his heart is too weak, else he is in fair condition), so it will take some time.

He is still in intensive care of the cardiology service, now the medics are really focusing on finding ways to restore the heart capacity and find a way to prevent this accident to happen again, which this time would be fatal.

So rather good news, really :jiggy:

Good news indeed!

 

[Ripley]

Very well!!!

 

[Eli13]

That's great news!
I hope he continues to progress well in his recovery.

 

[Keatah]

Whenever you say medics I imagine either Army field medics like from M.A.S.H, or the silent personnel in the background in the Starship Enterprise sick bay.

 

[Ark]

Whenever you say medics I imagine either Army field medics like from M.A.S.H, or the silent personnel in the background in the Starship Enterprise sick bay.

"Medic!" is more productive than "Doctor!". If you scream "Medic", you're less likely to get an english or history major.

 

[N_Molson]

"Medic!" is more productive than "Doctor!". If you scream "Medic", you're less likely to get an english or history major.

Remember I'm french and this happened in France. So of course it is a quick translation. What I said was "Médecin !" which is appropriated. "Docteur !" would have been less apropriated (but still very obvious in the context of having someone down).

So I assumed that "Médecin" = "Medic" and "Docteur" = "Doctor" but that's probably more subtle than that. Those words are probably what is called "false friends" in translation.

And bingo, by the way this is it, according to the Robert & Collins :

médecin nm. 1) doctor, 2) physician [MED]

 

[SiberianTiger]

:OMG:

Just came to the forum after being away for long to check any news and saw this. I'm really happy to see that your friend has survived despite getting through a very close call. I'm feeling out for you, his other friends and family who lived through few very stressful days.

I hope his health will eventually recover to its former self.