N_Molson
Addon Developer
Thursday evening, a friend of mine collapsed right under my eyes as we were playing a theater play. His legs failed and he fell on the person in front of him. Then he quickly rolled on his side, got up, walked several steps breathing loudly, and tried to continue the play. I was like the other actors almost paralysed, not knowing if we had to stop or if he just needed some time to recover. Then our theater teacher went in and stopped the play. There were 150 people watching, and we were on a parking lot, on the roof of a supermarket. The Sun just set, it was night, but the temperature was around 36°C (the asphalt was radiating a lot of heat).
Then my friend was quickly laid down, and then he stopped to breath and his heart failed. I shouted "Medic !". What was really a good thing is that there were 2 professional nurses and 3 people well-trained in first-aid. They immediately reacted and began reanimation attempts. That lasted 15 minutes and was really scary. All I could do is to drive the spectators out of the parking, to clean the path for the incoming ambulance. My friend was areactive, was only gasping intermittently, with no carotidian or femoral pulse and dilated pupils. That was really scary.
The ambulance finally arrived, with the firemen paramedics and the police right behind (its usual here to have those three corps on emergencies). They shocked the victim no less than 8 times. After 10 more scary minutes, they loaded him in the ambulance and went to the hospital.
With 2 other friends (including one of the nurses), I went to the emergencies 2 hours later (the nurse said it was useless before). So we were there around 2:30 AM. He was just out of the emergencies, where he made 4 additionnal cardiac arrests, in the "de-shocking" service. At 3:00 AM we saw the anesthesist, a cardiologist, and a panel of interns and nurses, which was quite surprising given the early hour. They asked us a lot of question on how he fell, if there was any clues or symptoms, etc... There were absolutely no symptoms, and he was in full health and in a good mood several minutes before the accident.
We saw him, he was in an artificial coma, and stabilized, with a tube to breath and drugs to help to heart. Around 70 BPM, seemed quite normal, despite some periodic anomalies. He seemed in good condition. The medics scanned his brain and noticed nothing suspicious. They were then more focused on a heart problem.
Next day (Friday) they made examinations of the heart ; coronary vessels were in good condition, but there was something with one of the ventricles. They still are investigating, could be anything like a malformation (1 case in his family). I saw him that day, he was in intensive care, with like 10 drugs being injected in his body, and ice bags over the body. His temperature was downed to 32°C and his heartbeat dropped to 45 BPM. Medics said it was done to "hibernate" the brain and prevend additionnal damage. Of course the unknown at this point was "how much his brain has been deprived of Dioxygen" ? He was reanimated nearly instantly on the parking lot, but the medics said that even a good hand heart massage doesn't replace a functional heart in terms of organs blood irrigation.
Yesterday (Saturday) they began to "re-heat" him and lower the sedative drugs to get him out of the artificial coma. Which was successsfully achieved in the afternoon. The heart went up to 80 BPM and the body temperature to 37°C. I couldn't see him because he was "agitated". Some friends could, however, and he was reactive to speech, moving the head or the eyelids. Which means there is a minimal brain activity, a huge relief ; my fear was he would stay braindead.
Today (Sunday) he is expected to fully wake up and rise to consciousness. Im going to the hospital this evening, to see him if possible and if not, get the latest news of the day.
I think the worst is behind us. But what's sure is that he is goings to take heart drugs all his life and will probably have months of revalidation to recover all his abilities.
I hope things are going to end well, can't wait this evening.
Then my friend was quickly laid down, and then he stopped to breath and his heart failed. I shouted "Medic !". What was really a good thing is that there were 2 professional nurses and 3 people well-trained in first-aid. They immediately reacted and began reanimation attempts. That lasted 15 minutes and was really scary. All I could do is to drive the spectators out of the parking, to clean the path for the incoming ambulance. My friend was areactive, was only gasping intermittently, with no carotidian or femoral pulse and dilated pupils. That was really scary.
The ambulance finally arrived, with the firemen paramedics and the police right behind (its usual here to have those three corps on emergencies). They shocked the victim no less than 8 times. After 10 more scary minutes, they loaded him in the ambulance and went to the hospital.
With 2 other friends (including one of the nurses), I went to the emergencies 2 hours later (the nurse said it was useless before). So we were there around 2:30 AM. He was just out of the emergencies, where he made 4 additionnal cardiac arrests, in the "de-shocking" service. At 3:00 AM we saw the anesthesist, a cardiologist, and a panel of interns and nurses, which was quite surprising given the early hour. They asked us a lot of question on how he fell, if there was any clues or symptoms, etc... There were absolutely no symptoms, and he was in full health and in a good mood several minutes before the accident.
We saw him, he was in an artificial coma, and stabilized, with a tube to breath and drugs to help to heart. Around 70 BPM, seemed quite normal, despite some periodic anomalies. He seemed in good condition. The medics scanned his brain and noticed nothing suspicious. They were then more focused on a heart problem.
Next day (Friday) they made examinations of the heart ; coronary vessels were in good condition, but there was something with one of the ventricles. They still are investigating, could be anything like a malformation (1 case in his family). I saw him that day, he was in intensive care, with like 10 drugs being injected in his body, and ice bags over the body. His temperature was downed to 32°C and his heartbeat dropped to 45 BPM. Medics said it was done to "hibernate" the brain and prevend additionnal damage. Of course the unknown at this point was "how much his brain has been deprived of Dioxygen" ? He was reanimated nearly instantly on the parking lot, but the medics said that even a good hand heart massage doesn't replace a functional heart in terms of organs blood irrigation.
Yesterday (Saturday) they began to "re-heat" him and lower the sedative drugs to get him out of the artificial coma. Which was successsfully achieved in the afternoon. The heart went up to 80 BPM and the body temperature to 37°C. I couldn't see him because he was "agitated". Some friends could, however, and he was reactive to speech, moving the head or the eyelids. Which means there is a minimal brain activity, a huge relief ; my fear was he would stay braindead.
Today (Sunday) he is expected to fully wake up and rise to consciousness. Im going to the hospital this evening, to see him if possible and if not, get the latest news of the day.
I think the worst is behind us. But what's sure is that he is goings to take heart drugs all his life and will probably have months of revalidation to recover all his abilities.
I hope things are going to end well, can't wait this evening.
Hang in there, mate!
