So I had to give CPR today…
Two and a half years ago I volunteered to become my unit’s CPR instructor. I went through a few weeks worth of training, a rough certification course through the American Heart Association, a probationary period of supervised instruction, and eventually I was accepted into the fold as a full-fledged instructor. At the time, I thought all of the hooplah was a bit “much”. Now, and only now, do I really GET why they were as anal as they were.
I work in my unit’s control center. I had been at work for maybe an hour before one of the guys from my unit busts into the room to tell us that one of the unit’s contractors has a serious medical problem, and needs ambulance. Having heard that much, I sprang up.. ran into the room.. to see a 40-50 year old black man in a computer chair. His head was tilted back… he was gargling, and really pale.
There were two other contractors standing by him… one was holding his pulse (incorrectly), the other was talking to him. The man wasn’t responding.. he was just groaning. I couldn’t vouch for anyone in the room having the slightest idea what they were doing… so I did what pretty much anyone would do… I started barking out orders.
I checked his pulse… it was reallllly shallow. He wasn’t breathing… just gasping (it’s called agonal respiration)… not enough to support life. A normal onlooker would chalk him up as okay, and just let him wait until help got there.
I got everyone to help me lower him to the ground… and had one guy begin breaths (it’s easier to fuck up compressions than breaths… so I knew I could coach someone to give breaths correctly). Low and behold, when they administered the breaths, they forced it way too hard… causing the air to fill his stomach. He puked up what looked to be the better half of an apple fritter.
I gave him a quick wipe, and applied something known as cricoid pressure. The esophogus is a fleshy tube, while the air pipe is surrounded by cartilage. By pushing the adam’s apple down, I could direct the air properly to his lungs. I started compressing. I took this role because most people don’t push hard, or fast enough to make CPR effective. (30 compressions per round is the new standard just in case you didn’t know). I know I cracked some ribs and bruised him up a bit… but I don’t think he’ll mind.
Several rounds of CPR later, the ambulance arrived with a defibrilator. We kept on pushing out cycles of CPR while they were getting their stuff together. When they hooked it up, he definitely needed a shock.
I think this is the point where it really hit me. “Geez… this guy could really die here.” I watched the second shock delivery go by… and the defib said that his heart was beating again. The paramedics took over… and I sat down… light headed.
About an hour later we got news from the hospital that the man was awake, talking, and doing just fine. I had spent 90% of that hour just staring at the ceiling. I had never felt so alive… I was a nervous wreck… fidgity… scatterbrained… I went down to the hospital to see him. He had no idea that any of it had happened. I had to give a detailed report to the nurse… during which time the man was listening in disbelief. I couldn’t imagine hearing it, either.
Anyway… getting this out has really helped settle my nerves. My boss gave me the rest of the day off. I’m going to take a nap.
May 7th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Damn, dude. Nice job! There are two types of people: The ones that hope they can spring into action in a crisis, take control and get results, and the people that actually can. Kudos to you for being in the latter group.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Two days ago I had to give CPR to a girl who did exactly the same thing in a class at uni. she stiffened right in front of me on her chair, her head went back and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She started making the same noise you described, a kind of deep grunting sound.
Another girl in my class and I knew CPR, so we started sharing compressions/breathing. We were doing it for 45 minutes before help and a defib arrived.
They took her to the hospital; they have no idea why it happened. They told us that she would probably not wake up. Luckily her heart rate has gone done, her temperature is up and it looks like she will wake up now, once they take her out of the induced coma.
I still can’t think straight, I’m scatterbrained, I keep crying at the slightest thing. I can’t remember that 45 minutes clearly, it’s just a chopped up scene. I keep imagining that people are going to start doing the same thing everywhere I go, and I’ll have to do it again, which scares me more than anything.
Worst of all, none of my friends or family can understand what a huge effect it’s had on me. they make light of it. When I went through CPR training, I didn’t realise how draining it would be, and how absolutely petrifying it is. Even though we know she is going to be okay now, I cannot get over the horrible sensation when I saw her lying on the ground in front of me and realising that she could just die there.