The Iceman

This past October our hospital has become certified as a Cardiac Arrest Center. They rolled out a new standard for patients who have suffered from a cardiac arrest in a non hospital setting. We were all trained about two months ago on a hypothermia treatment. Our first patient that came to the Cardiac Cath Lab was just last week. Here is the scenario: A 60 ish man was playing sports with friends when he collapsed. One of his friends immediately started CPR and called 911. When EMS arrived they shocked him and his rhythm and his breathing returned but he did not wake up. EMS covered his body with ice and transported him to the hospital. Immediately upon arrival they put a Velcro vest and pants on the man and moved him to the cath lab. We were ready with the machine that hooks up to the vest and pants and started the cooling of his body to around 32C. We proceeded with a heart cath and found that he had small vessel disease. (Essentially, this means that there is nothing in his arteries we can fix). His left ventricle was a different story. It was pumping at only around 5-10%. (This is called Cardiomyopathy) So, we figured that he may need an AICD (automatic internal cardiac defibrillator) to shock his heart out of any future rhythms that can cause sudden death. We sent him to the ICU and kept him cool for around 24 hours. Then they will slowly start re-warming him over the next 24 hours. When the procedure was over I went to the waiting room to get the family. There I met his beautiful young daughter and by the grace of timing was allowed to meet the man who did the CPR, along with his wife. I spent a few moments with them hearing the story and telling them how truly inspiring they were to me. I took the daughter back to meet the Doctor and they talked about the hard things. She asked if he would wake up, he told her he did not know. She told the Doc that she had had this conversation with her dad and if he was not going to wake up she could not keep him on life support, per his request. He explained our protocol and assured her that he was on the same page as they were. She agreed to the protocol.

After a day off, I found out that he did well and is on the schedule for an AICD. Yesterday I went up to meet the man. Wow, what an incredible person this guy is. He is fully alive in every sense of the word. He is a very funny man, and again by the grace of timing the friend who saved his life and his wife were there. I sat for a moment to hear their stories. The man told me that his whole life has been this way; he is always in the right place at the right time. I loved his zest for life and his sense of humor. He lives life to the fullest every day. Makes homemade Western movies with his friends and plays sports. I told him that I had been calling him "The Iceman", he loved it. I am sure that I could listen to this man talk about his life for hours and I feel very proud to work some place where this work is being done. On my way out of his room I asked him "what will you do differently now with the second chance at life?" He said, "live life with less inhibition."

With the old protocol these patients have a 16% chance of survival. The new protocol increases survival to 74%.