Hi everyone, I'm chris I'm new here. I'm 42 years old. Just thought I would introduce myself. I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at work just over 6 weeks ago at work. As you may know only 1 in 10 who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospital, survive I was that one.
I was physically fit and cycled 20 miles a day during the week. I had the cardiac arrest whilst sat at my desk and luckily as I'm a member of the armed forces all the personnel in my office are first aid trained. They started cpr immediately as another was ringing for an ambulance. Luckily the ambulance was taking a break nearby and arrived within 4 minutes. I was rushed to hospital and put into an induced coma to protect my heart.
My heart function had gone below 10% which as you may know is not good. I was in a coma for 9 days and spent 3 days in icu before being moved to a cardiac ward. I also managed to contract pneumonia whilst in the coma. All in all I spent 16 days in hospital and when I left my heart function was 20%. I also was fitted with an Icd prior to my release.
I am on a lot of tablets atm ramipril, apixaban, bisoprolol, ranitidine to name a few and also a few others I forget the name of. I'm currently at home recovering with my family and have attended a heart failure clinic which help and was told my heart function had increased to 27%. So I'm improving slowly but surely. My icd has not activated yet🤞so far so good.
Thank you for reading my story. I hope to be able to chat with people in a similar situation as myself.
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Chrisp1975
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Hello Chris ,a fellow cardiac arrest survivor please read my threads ,I also had a sudden arrest on a train ,for some reason we are still here incidently I'm 57
Hi Chris, how uncanny I'm also Chris & was 46 when I had OHCA last July 31st. I too lived fit and healthy life, riding 30 Mile last round trip to work and evening & weekends. In fact I had my CA whilst cycling in the middle of no where! I had CPR from my mate he is x royal mArine & thank god his training kicked in on auto pilot- still 20 mins before a 1st responder & another 5 for helicopter.
I was also put in coma & spent 10. Days in hospital.
Sounds like you are slowly getting better. It will be a journey & if you want to share experiences for support please let me know.
Take care and rest up. A it cheesy but take that good from it, alive, see children grow up etc. Enjoy everyday
Hi Chris thanks for replying. Yes I'm at the start of my journey to recovery. We r both very lucky that we had people with us that knew cpr and saved our lives.
Would very much like to share experiences on the road to recovery as there is not much difference in age between us and we both enjoy cycling. Are you back on your bike yet?
Getting plenty of rest atm. Hopefully get back on the bike soon lol.
Hi Chris, my brother in law- my twins husband, 44 is currently in a medically induced coma after suffering from cardiac arrest while also at work. Ambulance arrived in 3 minutes. in a weeks time frame he has gone through therapeutic hypothermia, received an angiogram which resulted in finding out he needs triple bypass at the minimum. They are currently working to wean him from all the sedation but it is a very slow process and each morning wakes up very confused and then very frustrated which results in putting him back in the coma. In order to remove the tube from his throat he has to remain calm. My sister, our whole family continues to face an up and down roller coaster. Reading your story helps but also reminds me how much he still has ahead. Once he wakes up he is still facing bypass surgery. I am praying for the best every single day. Thank you for sharing. #JBStrong
Tstone915 thankyou for sharing. As I said I was in a medically induced coma they also had problems bringing me out they tried 3 or 4 times to get me to come around. They had decided on the last time to try that if I did not wake up I would need a tracheotomy, luckily for me I woke up. I suffered no brain damage just some short term memory problems. I’m now 5 months down the line and doing great. My EF is now 40/45%. But my sca was idiopathic and I now just have a slightly leaky mitral valve because of the sca. I hope to be returning to work in a couple of weeks. I’m back cycling and leading a normal life. Well as normal as I can be with my little electronic friend implanted. It sounds like yr brother in law has more issues with his heart than what I did. I hope that he can be woken up soon and that he gets all the help and support he needs like I have been lucky to receive from my not just from my wife, kids and family but the NHS cardiology team here in
Portsmouth. It is a long journey and I continue on it for some time to come probably for the rest of my life. I hope he comes round soon. Please feel free to message me anytime on here if you have any questions. I’m usually on most days.
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