So you've ruined your life...

Mommy wrote:

KingK wrote:

Mommy wrote:A bit of a long winded story about the luckiest day of my life.

TL:DR I won the lottery.

Last Bank Holiday Monday in August last year, I was in the garden and my 14 year old came to the back door and told me her sister had fainted. She'd rung her mum because Kirsten had felt faint before hand but she's fainted nonetheless.
I walked into the house and found her in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look right and then gave what I recognised as an agonal gasp. She was dying. I don't know if I even knew what I was doing but I went into autopilot. All of my first aid training kicked in all at once. Airway, breathing, circulation. Her airway was clear, no breathing, no pulse. I got my other daughter to ring 999, I started CPR straight away. I explained the situation to the operator and carried on. One of the fortunate things was that there was an ambulance available and was on its way.
After about 5 minutes her mum arrived and went hysterical seeing me doing compressions. She soon calmed down and was doing rescue breaths to help. The paramedics arrived shortly after but it took 40 minutes for them to get her back. A second ambulance and a doctor car turned up too, followed by an air ambulance. Absolutely amazing to see them working. After 8 shocks and 40 minutes, there was a pulse. They made the decision to sedate her but needed a 2nd air ambulance to come with an anaesthetist. They basically set up an operating table on the road outside my house and I got to kiss her on the forehead, not knowing if I'd see her alive again. She was taken to Cardiff Uni Hospital - 25 minutes in the air ambulance. I followed with my ex, driving. We got there to find her in a coma, to protect her brain - 40 minutes is a long time to be gone. The amount of stuff that goes through your mind about them, how they will be afterwards if they don't die. Images of them growing up, guilt that you could have done better, loads of other non-relevant gooseberry fool, all come flying through your mind. I realised pretty quickly that I (we) had won the lottery that day. The heart specialist said there was a 3% chance of actually getting her to hospital alive after a cardiac arrest. It was a Bank Holiday - any other Monday and I'd be working and the kids would be home alone. Her sister would normally be in her room listening to music but she was walking to the bathroom from her room and heard Kirsten hyperventilating on the stairs. Kirsten could have decided to go lie down after feeling unwell and just died in her room. If I hadn't had first aid training I could have see the agonal gasp as a laboured breath and just put her on the sofa to wait for the ambulance.
So many things...
She was in intensive care for a week and brought out of sedation after 3 days (she was waking up even while sedated).
Looking around the intensive care ward made me realise how lucky I was to have her. A stab victim, a car crash victim, heart attack cases and others, each having the best care in the world. The grey ward it was called as cases are brought in and suspected to have Covid until they are proved otherwise. If you have it, red ward and if not, cardiac ward. When she came round her memory was shot and after 3 days of sedation she was in delirium (I'd broken her nose, she caught covid on holiday, she'd broken her legs and other stories that came to her mind, along with the where am I? every 5 minutes.). On the Coronary Care Unit she had her own room and over the next 3 weeks she improved to the point where she was allowed home but wearing a defibrillator vest, which is a 24-7 thing. It monitors her heart all day, reports on anomalies and will shock her if it happens again. It won't do CPR though and after the 8 shocks to get her going, she is never left alone for more than a minute while awake. She is what I would describe as "fine" - her memory isn't brilliant and she gets frustrated by stuff easily. The defib unit has a lunchbox sized control unit and needs to be uploaded each night. She has to carry that with her everywhere and it pisses her off. But she's alive and that is the most important thing.
Kids...you'd swap places with them in a second if it meant they were okay but they don't half put you through the ringer at times. Like I said, I won the lottery that day.

Wow Mommy. Only just seen this and as a father of 2 tween/teens myself I can only imagine what you all were going through. Thank God you were there to help as you say.

As it’s been a few weeks since then, do you mind me asking how Kirsten is now?

H KK, She's good. Got referred from Cardiff to Wrexham a month or so ago and is due to have an op next week. Either a 3rd ablation where they cut out a pathway to her heart or an internal defibrillator or a combination of both. The surgeon seemed confident that the ablation would do the trick. It'll give her the freedom that she has been missing for the last 6 months.
Doesn't stop the worrying though. Parenthood

False wrote:

Mommy wrote:A bit of a long winded story about the luckiest day of my life.

TL:DR I won the lottery.

Last Bank Holiday Monday in August last year, I was in the garden and my 14 year old came to the back door and told me her sister had fainted. She'd rung her mum because Kirsten had felt faint before hand but she's fainted nonetheless.
I walked into the house and found her in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look right and then gave what I recognised as an agonal gasp. She was dying. I don't know if I even knew what I was doing but I went into autopilot. All of my first aid training kicked in all at once. Airway, breathing, circulation. Her airway was clear, no breathing, no pulse. I got my other daughter to ring 999, I started CPR straight away. I explained the situation to the operator and carried on. One of the fortunate things was that there was an ambulance available and was on its way.
After about 5 minutes her mum arrived and went hysterical seeing me doing compressions. She soon calmed down and was doing rescue breaths to help. The paramedics arrived shortly after but it took 40 minutes for them to get her back. A second ambulance and a doctor car turned up too, followed by an air ambulance. Absolutely amazing to see them working. After 8 shocks and 40 minutes, there was a pulse. They made the decision to sedate her but needed a 2nd air ambulance to come with an anaesthetist. They basically set up an operating table on the road outside my house and I got to kiss her on the forehead, not knowing if I'd see her alive again. She was taken to Cardiff Uni Hospital - 25 minutes in the air ambulance. I followed with my ex, driving. We got there to find her in a coma, to protect her brain - 40 minutes is a long time to be gone. The amount of stuff that goes through your mind about them, how they will be afterwards if they don't die. Images of them growing up, guilt that you could have done better, loads of other non-relevant gooseberry fool, all come flying through your mind. I realised pretty quickly that I (we) had won the lottery that day. The heart specialist said there was a 3% chance of actually getting her to hospital alive after a cardiac arrest. It was a Bank Holiday - any other Monday and I'd be working and the kids would be home alone. Her sister would normally be in her room listening to music but she was walking to the bathroom from her room and heard Kirsten hyperventilating on the stairs. Kirsten could have decided to go lie down after feeling unwell and just died in her room. If I hadn't had first aid training I could have see the agonal gasp as a laboured breath and just put her on the sofa to wait for the ambulance.
So many things...
She was in intensive care for a week and brought out of sedation after 3 days (she was waking up even while sedated).
Looking around the intensive care ward made me realise how lucky I was to have her. A stab victim, a car crash victim, heart attack cases and others, each having the best care in the world. The grey ward it was called as cases are brought in and suspected to have Covid until they are proved otherwise. If you have it, red ward and if not, cardiac ward. When she came round her memory was shot and after 3 days of sedation she was in delirium (I'd broken her nose, she caught covid on holiday, she'd broken her legs and other stories that came to her mind, along with the where am I? every 5 minutes.). On the Coronary Care Unit she had her own room and over the next 3 weeks she improved to the point where she was allowed home but wearing a defibrillator vest, which is a 24-7 thing. It monitors her heart all day, reports on anomalies and will shock her if it happens again. It won't do CPR though and after the 8 shocks to get her going, she is never left alone for more than a minute while awake. She is what I would describe as "fine" - her memory isn't brilliant and she gets frustrated by stuff easily. The defib unit has a lunchbox sized control unit and needs to be uploaded each night. She has to carry that with her everywhere and it pisses her off. But she's alive and that is the most important thing.
Kids...you'd swap places with them in a second if it meant they were okay but they don't half put you through the ringer at times. Like I said, I won the lottery that day.

good lord man, respect for the quick thinking and cool heads of everyone involved there, i hope she recovers well and you and yours are all ok buddy

kerr9000 wrote:

Mommy wrote:

KingK wrote:

Mommy wrote:A bit of a long winded story about the luckiest day of my life.

TL:DR I won the lottery.

Last Bank Holiday Monday in August last year, I was in the garden and my 14 year old came to the back door and told me her sister had fainted. She'd rung her mum because Kirsten had felt faint before hand but she's fainted nonetheless.
I walked into the house and found her in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look right and then gave what I recognised as an agonal gasp. She was dying. I don't know if I even knew what I was doing but I went into autopilot. All of my first aid training kicked in all at once. Airway, breathing, circulation. Her airway was clear, no breathing, no pulse. I got my other daughter to ring 999, I started CPR straight away. I explained the situation to the operator and carried on. One of the fortunate things was that there was an ambulance available and was on its way.
After about 5 minutes her mum arrived and went hysterical seeing me doing compressions. She soon calmed down and was doing rescue breaths to help. The paramedics arrived shortly after but it took 40 minutes for them to get her back. A second ambulance and a doctor car turned up too, followed by an air ambulance. Absolutely amazing to see them working. After 8 shocks and 40 minutes, there was a pulse. They made the decision to sedate her but needed a 2nd air ambulance to come with an anaesthetist. They basically set up an operating table on the road outside my house and I got to kiss her on the forehead, not knowing if I'd see her alive again. She was taken to Cardiff Uni Hospital - 25 minutes in the air ambulance. I followed with my ex, driving. We got there to find her in a coma, to protect her brain - 40 minutes is a long time to be gone. The amount of stuff that goes through your mind about them, how they will be afterwards if they don't die. Images of them growing up, guilt that you could have done better, loads of other non-relevant gooseberry fool, all come flying through your mind. I realised pretty quickly that I (we) had won the lottery that day. The heart specialist said there was a 3% chance of actually getting her to hospital alive after a cardiac arrest. It was a Bank Holiday - any other Monday and I'd be working and the kids would be home alone. Her sister would normally be in her room listening to music but she was walking to the bathroom from her room and heard Kirsten hyperventilating on the stairs. Kirsten could have decided to go lie down after feeling unwell and just died in her room. If I hadn't had first aid training I could have see the agonal gasp as a laboured breath and just put her on the sofa to wait for the ambulance.
So many things...
She was in intensive care for a week and brought out of sedation after 3 days (she was waking up even while sedated).
Looking around the intensive care ward made me realise how lucky I was to have her. A stab victim, a car crash victim, heart attack cases and others, each having the best care in the world. The grey ward it was called as cases are brought in and suspected to have Covid until they are proved otherwise. If you have it, red ward and if not, cardiac ward. When she came round her memory was shot and after 3 days of sedation she was in delirium (I'd broken her nose, she caught covid on holiday, she'd broken her legs and other stories that came to her mind, along with the where am I? every 5 minutes.). On the Coronary Care Unit she had her own room and over the next 3 weeks she improved to the point where she was allowed home but wearing a defibrillator vest, which is a 24-7 thing. It monitors her heart all day, reports on anomalies and will shock her if it happens again. It won't do CPR though and after the 8 shocks to get her going, she is never left alone for more than a minute while awake. She is what I would describe as "fine" - her memory isn't brilliant and she gets frustrated by stuff easily. The defib unit has a lunchbox sized control unit and needs to be uploaded each night. She has to carry that with her everywhere and it pisses her off. But she's alive and that is the most important thing.
Kids...you'd swap places with them in a second if it meant they were okay but they don't half put you through the ringer at times. Like I said, I won the lottery that day.

Wow Mommy. Only just seen this and as a father of 2 tween/teens myself I can only imagine what you all were going through. Thank God you were there to help as you say.

As it’s been a few weeks since then, do you mind me asking how Kirsten is now?

H KK, She's good. Got referred from Cardiff to Wrexham a month or so ago and is due to have an op next week. Either a 3rd ablation where they cut out a pathway to her heart or an internal defibrillator or a combination of both. The surgeon seemed confident that the ablation would do the trick. It'll give her the freedom that she has been missing for the last 6 months.
Doesn't stop the worrying though. Parenthood

Sorry to hear what you and your family have been going through, fingers crossed it all comes good in the end. You are an absolute hero of a dad.... I once had an epileptic fit in my sleep vomited in my own mouth and my jaw locked, my dad ripped my mouth open and got all the sick out and got me breathing again and got me to hospital, if he hadn't have heard me I would have been a goner, sometimes it is half luck and half a brilliant family member knowing what to do that is all the difference in the world, I bet as she grows older she looks up to you more and more for it because every day I think my dad is even more incredible.

KingK wrote:

Mommy wrote:

KingK wrote:

Mommy wrote:A bit of a long winded story about the luckiest day of my life.

TL:DR I won the lottery.

Last Bank Holiday Monday in August last year, I was in the garden and my 14 year old came to the back door and told me her sister had fainted. She'd rung her mum because Kirsten had felt faint before hand but she's fainted nonetheless.
I walked into the house and found her in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look right and then gave what I recognised as an agonal gasp. She was dying. I don't know if I even knew what I was doing but I went into autopilot. All of my first aid training kicked in all at once. Airway, breathing, circulation. Her airway was clear, no breathing, no pulse. I got my other daughter to ring 999, I started CPR straight away. I explained the situation to the operator and carried on. One of the fortunate things was that there was an ambulance available and was on its way.
After about 5 minutes her mum arrived and went hysterical seeing me doing compressions. She soon calmed down and was doing rescue breaths to help. The paramedics arrived shortly after but it took 40 minutes for them to get her back. A second ambulance and a doctor car turned up too, followed by an air ambulance. Absolutely amazing to see them working. After 8 shocks and 40 minutes, there was a pulse. They made the decision to sedate her but needed a 2nd air ambulance to come with an anaesthetist. They basically set up an operating table on the road outside my house and I got to kiss her on the forehead, not knowing if I'd see her alive again. She was taken to Cardiff Uni Hospital - 25 minutes in the air ambulance. I followed with my ex, driving. We got there to find her in a coma, to protect her brain - 40 minutes is a long time to be gone. The amount of stuff that goes through your mind about them, how they will be afterwards if they don't die. Images of them growing up, guilt that you could have done better, loads of other non-relevant gooseberry fool, all come flying through your mind. I realised pretty quickly that I (we) had won the lottery that day. The heart specialist said there was a 3% chance of actually getting her to hospital alive after a cardiac arrest. It was a Bank Holiday - any other Monday and I'd be working and the kids would be home alone. Her sister would normally be in her room listening to music but she was walking to the bathroom from her room and heard Kirsten hyperventilating on the stairs. Kirsten could have decided to go lie down after feeling unwell and just died in her room. If I hadn't had first aid training I could have see the agonal gasp as a laboured breath and just put her on the sofa to wait for the ambulance.
So many things...
She was in intensive care for a week and brought out of sedation after 3 days (she was waking up even while sedated).
Looking around the intensive care ward made me realise how lucky I was to have her. A stab victim, a car crash victim, heart attack cases and others, each having the best care in the world. The grey ward it was called as cases are brought in and suspected to have Covid until they are proved otherwise. If you have it, red ward and if not, cardiac ward. When she came round her memory was shot and after 3 days of sedation she was in delirium (I'd broken her nose, she caught covid on holiday, she'd broken her legs and other stories that came to her mind, along with the where am I? every 5 minutes.). On the Coronary Care Unit she had her own room and over the next 3 weeks she improved to the point where she was allowed home but wearing a defibrillator vest, which is a 24-7 thing. It monitors her heart all day, reports on anomalies and will shock her if it happens again. It won't do CPR though and after the 8 shocks to get her going, she is never left alone for more than a minute while awake. She is what I would describe as "fine" - her memory isn't brilliant and she gets frustrated by stuff easily. The defib unit has a lunchbox sized control unit and needs to be uploaded each night. She has to carry that with her everywhere and it pisses her off. But she's alive and that is the most important thing.
Kids...you'd swap places with them in a second if it meant they were okay but they don't half put you through the ringer at times. Like I said, I won the lottery that day.

Wow Mommy. Only just seen this and as a father of 2 tween/teens myself I can only imagine what you all were going through. Thank God you were there to help as you say.

As it’s been a few weeks since then, do you mind me asking how Kirsten is now?

H KK, She's good. Got referred from Cardiff to Wrexham a month or so ago and is due to have an op next week. Either a 3rd ablation where they cut out a pathway to her heart or an internal defibrillator or a combination of both. The surgeon seemed confident that the ablation would do the trick. It'll give her the freedom that she has been missing for the last 6 months.
Doesn't stop the worrying though. Parenthood

Hope that goes well!

RetroCora wrote:Time to tell him about the simulation theory Moggy. Best of luck.

Christopher wrote:Life update, so my partner and I are expecting a girl in June. She wasn’t planned as these things go sometimes.

Obviously we’re excited about her arrival, we’ve just bought a new house too, however my partner was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. The hospital need to do some more tests but need to get the baby out in the next two weeks so they can do a full CT scan to how see bad it is. She found a lump on her a neck in March, which is secondary cancer in her lymph nodes, there are multiple areas found via an MRI scan.

So yeah, things are pretty strawberry floating awful right now.

Christopher wrote:Life update, so my partner and I are expecting a girl in June. She wasn’t planned as these things go sometimes.

Obviously we’re excited about her arrival, we’ve just bought a new house too, however my partner was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. The hospital need to do some more tests but need to get the baby out in the next two weeks so they can do a full CT scan to how see bad it is. She found a lump on her a neck in March, which is secondary cancer in her lymph nodes, there are multiple areas found via an MRI scan.

So yeah, things are pretty strawberry floating awful right now.

Christopher wrote:Life update, so my partner and I are expecting a girl in June. She wasn’t planned as these things go sometimes.

Obviously we’re excited about her arrival, we’ve just bought a new house too, however my partner was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. The hospital need to do some more tests but need to get the baby out in the next two weeks so they can do a full CT scan to how see bad it is. She found a lump on her a neck in March, which is secondary cancer in her lymph nodes, there are multiple areas found via an MRI scan.

So yeah, things are pretty strawberry floating awful right now.

Christopher wrote:Life update, so my partner and I are expecting a girl in June. She wasn’t planned as these things go sometimes.

Obviously we’re excited about her arrival, we’ve just bought a new house too, however my partner was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. The hospital need to do some more tests but need to get the baby out in the next two weeks so they can do a full CT scan to how see bad it is. She found a lump on her a neck in March, which is secondary cancer in her lymph nodes, there are multiple areas found via an MRI scan.

So yeah, things are pretty strawberry floating awful right now.