My sister-in-law just had a massive heart attack. I feel so bad. They just got married in October. She has a 9 year old daughter. It's only a week before Christmas. This is just so unfair.

She is 'stable'' but she's in intensive care and isn't awake. It happened yesterday. Her mom did CPR but her mom is in her 70s so we don't know how effective it was. The EMTs got her heart going after several shocks. I hope she didn't have brain damage.

My brother was in LA on business. They live in Medford, OR. He had to drive back because the airports from SF to Portland were fogged in. He got there this morning but he hasn't called back yet to say how she is. He called me while he was driving home.

She's at the hospital she works at. She is the head of their neonatal intensive care unit there. I am glad of that because my brother will have lots of support from their friends there.

She didn't have a healthy heart to begin with. She had even been on the heart transplant list before but got better. I just don't know what is going to happen now.

This is just so sad.

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Democracy Now! - The lost art of investigative news reporting.

That's terrible. Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

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SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

Sorry to hear about this.

Our prayers go out to your sister-in-law.

She'll do ok. California has top notch doctors. Have them to thank me for keeping me alive many years ago (menengitis).

That sounds terrible, but you know our thoughts are with you. Hope it works out.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I don't pray, but I am thankful that her Mom knew CPR (how many people don't) and that the EMT's had defibrillator equipment.

I do hope she recovers and can go on with her life. My mom was in and out of hospitals the last two years of her life, there is nothing pleasant to be said about ICU--except that they are there and do the job so well.

I'll be thinking about you. Let us know.

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That is sad. I hope she recover and does not suffer any lasting problems from this.

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Game over, you lose, we hope you enjoyed playing the exciting game of Thermodynamics...

beskeptical, I do hope everything turns out for the best.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep you posted.

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Democracy Now! - The lost art of investigative news reporting.

I'm so sorry. Just remember we're here for you.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

My family's thoughts and prayers and with you and your family.

Kizarvexis

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"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James D. Nicoll

beskeptical, I just so sorry to hear about this. You and your family will be in my thoughts.

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Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend,... - Moody Blues.

Neptune- The original Dark Matter.

The author feels that this technique of deliberately lying will actually make it easier for you to learn the ideas. - Donald Knuth

Keeping hopeful thoughts for a positive outcome.

Oh man, that's just so awful. My thoughts are with you and your family.

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Yes, I have a life. It's quite different from yours.

Everyone in this strange little community is on your side, beskeptical.

As you have time, let folks know how your family is getting along. Your forte' is explaining. It might help, and we will listen.

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

Thinking of you - I'm sure all will turn out right.

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

Very Sad. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

As Mike A. said, your forte' is explaining. I'm sure your gifts will be able to help your family, especially her daughter and don't forget we're here if you need us.

I cannot begin to imagine how terrible you feel right now, and my words can't surpass the folks here, so all I can say is I hope for the best, and hopefully everything will turn out okay in the end. Just keep looking ahead at that glimmer of hope and hopefully she'll be back up soon, just in time for the holidays. Meanwhile you can be sure that there'll be a collective ear around here listening to you whenever you need it.

I hope you have had some better news over the weekend beskeptical. Our support is the only practical hep we can give and you know we are here.

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By asking questions we sometimes get the wrong answers, from wrong answers we learn to ask the right questions.

You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers. Hopefully things will work out.

My thoughts are with you and your family, b. I hope your sister-in-law has a full and speedy recovery.

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Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
Isaac Asimov

My best wishes to your sister-in-law and your whole family. If she's on a good way at christmas, don't let yourself get subdued by having her in hospital that time of the year. She surely wouldn't like to be the reason why her family can't enjoy christmas.

Harald

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"Flying in space is risky business, but just staying on this planet is risky business too." - John Young, astronaut

Thanks again guys. You do make me feel better.

Well it's not quite 48 hours and she isn't awake yet. She is on a ventilator and sedated for that. I don't know if they will be taking her off soon but I hope so. Spontaneous breathing by day 2 is a good sign. She had some minimal responses to stimuli. That's OK as long as she responds more significantly by day 3.

I guess she had serious cardiomyopathy as my brother has now asked the name of her condition. The good news is her poorly functioning heart is no worse. In other words, while she went into cardiac arrest, there may not have been any additional heart muscle damage. So I guess 'massive' was the wrong term. That's good.

The hospital has one of the leading cardiac care departments in the country. That is also good.

My brother and sister-in-law have a lot of community support. The fire department chief is a neighbor and friend. His daughter was actually visiting Barb's daughter at the time this happened. He got there as quickly as the fire crew did. They think it was about 11 minutes from the call to the defib. So it still leaves the big question of how well the CPR was.

I think the fact the heart restarted with defib indicates there was good perfusion. It is rare for defib to work after 10 minutes according to the folks who sell the 'at home' defib devices, but then that could be marketing figures rather than research figures.

We should have a much better picture of her prognosis tomorrow.

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~~ ><>><> ~~ ><,,> ><,,> ...`;=;p d;=;' /\/\^/\ ^^ ^/\/\_
Democracy Now! - The lost art of investigative news reporting.

I hope everything turns out ok. Over the summer, my family had a similar scare.

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Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

My god... I am so sorry about this. I hope she recovers.

My best wishes to you, your brother, and your sister-in-law, and to her daughter...

{{{Beskeptical}}}

My thoughts and hopes will with you. Wish we could do more!

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...

Based on your early Monday report, that's what my wife calls 'good bad news'. It wasn't an infarct.

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

This is very sad. My thoughts are with you. I hope everything turn out to be ok very soon. May you have the strength to withstand this unfortunate event.

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What brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart

The very fact that she survived for more than an hour after the EMT's got to her is a VERY positive sign. Every hour thereafter improves the odds of recovery. As an exipirenced EMT, I have a few thoughts to add.

All Cardiac Arrests are Heart Attacks, but not all Heart Attacks are Cardiac Arrests. People often use the terms interchangeably. There are Infarctions (temporary or permananet loss of O2 supply to heart muscle), Ischemia (insufficent O2 supply). Both cause pain, and are considered to be a Heart Attack. An MI (Myocardial Infarction) is the more serious of the two). Usually an MI means that a portion of the heart muscle dies.

Congestive Heart Failure - sounds much worse than it is (though it is not a good thing). CHF doesn't mean the heart has stopped, in fact you can occasionally meet CHF patients who are still able to walk around. Their heart is very poor, very weak, and without proper treatment it will eventually kill the patient.

A heart has several rhythms. Most have what is called a Normal Sinus Rhythm, but damage to heart muscle (or other medical conditions) can cause variations, including Vetricular Fibruillations, Atrial Fibruillations, and Asystole. The former two the heart is still trying to beat, but not doing so in a coherent manner, and is thus unable to pump blood (at least in sufficent volume to sustain life). The latter is a flat-line. A Defibruillator sends an electrical pulse through the heart that stops it, and allows its internal electrical system to restart in a coherent manner. This is why Asystole (flat-line) is not shockable - the heart is already stopped. When the heart is in a fibruillation or asystole (i.e. not pumping blood) it is a Cardiac Arrest.

A Heart Attack typically presents with chest pain, difficulty breathing, nausea, sweating etc. In TV this is shown by having an actor with makeup to be pale, and sweating, they'll clutch their left arm to their chest and collapse. Sometimes the Heart Attack is the result of an infarction, and it will cause the heart to fibruillate. When this happens, the patient will collapse. If nothing is done to the patient (bystanders panic, nobody calls 911 etc.) then the patient will begin to suffer brain damage within a few minutes. If someone intervenes with CPR within a minute, that will allow some oxygenation of the blood and profusion of the brain. We would prefer to defibruillate within a minute of arrest, but reality is rarely so friendly.

In this instance, the patient collapsed, and CPR was begun almost immediately. Good. The EMTs arrived in about 10 minutes. Good (sometimes it can be a very long responce time depending on call volume and location). Defibruillation revived the patient on scene. VERY good. This is a very good sign that the intervening CPR had been adequate. I have worked Cardiac Arrest calls where the patient had only been down for 5 or 6 minutes, with CPR, and we never got them back. I worked one where we revived the patient within a minute of arrest (we were already there when he arrested), and delivered him to the ER Awake, Alert, and Oriented - only to have him die from his complete Myocardial Infarction about 30 minutes later.

My family has been devistated by Heart Disease and Heart Attacks over the years, and I have lost most of my Cardiac Arrest patients. The reality is most patients who arrest before the EMTs get there never are revived. I don't want to downplay the tragedy of the situation, but this case sounds like it is that 1/100 survival stories.

My hopes and prayers go with you and your family in this time of crisis. I hope everybody else can learn from it, and I urge EVERYONE to learn CPR. It DOES save lives.

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beskeptical, I hope for the best for you and your sister-in-law and your whole family. I'm glad you have a lot of support. Please take care.

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