ER Nursing Ping.
Great advice.
THANK YOU 60Gunner.
A clot the size of a head of a pin? I had no idea clots that small could damage a heart - thanks for the information.
The nerve of that guy to have a heart attack on the poor doctor's day off!
This is good advice. Therefore, it must be ignored by all who are in this position.
I've seen ads advising to do this but hits a little more home coming from you. Thanks 60Gunner.
I would like to be added to your ping list if you don't mind. I am a Vol. Fire Fighter/ First Responder. Good advice in your post.
There you go, saving lives again!
Glad you're here, Gunner.
My wife drove me to the hospital during my first heart attack and that was a mistake.
Another reason to call 911: When you arrive at the hospital by ambulance they'll see you right away. If you arrive by private car you may have to wait, and wait, and wait...
One of the most bizarre stories I heard was guy driving himself to the hospital while having an MI. He went into V tach and crashed into a retaining wall. When he hit the wall, he took the steering wheel to the chest, which defibrillated him and he came back around. True story - you can't make this stuff up.
You do have a way with words, sir.
But as an aside I have an ambulance story to share with you. About 10 years ago my first wife and my best friend were severely injured in a motorcycle accident and were transported to a small local hospital.
My friend was critically injured and 'coded' on the table twice, once right in front of me. My wife was cut up pretty bad but the ER folks said they were going to keep her one night and let her go. I was to go home and bring her some clothes for the night.
By the time I got home there was a message for me saying they couldn't locate a couple of her vertebrea and were going to send her to a better hospital.
So I turned around and sped back to the hospital because they said I could go with her in the ambulance.
Now most folks think an ambulance ride is at 100 miles an hour and most times it is. But this time because my wife had 3 burst fractures in her lower back they moved very, very slowly with lights and sirens.
Well believe it or not we were about half way from one hospital to the other when we got behind this woman who just froze up completely when we got behind her with the lights and sirens going.
I mean she froze like a deer in the headlights.
Of course this happened in a construction zone so there was no way to go around her.
She just sat there like her car had become the Buddha himself.
The driver got on the PA and told her to move.
Nothing.
The driver got out and started talking to her through the window.
Nothing.
Finally I got out and made some gestures which roughly translated into 'Move this *^%$**&%$ car or I'll wring your *^#$%&*(()_ neck!'
We then proceeded to the hospital at the blazing rate of 10 miles per hour.
Oh it's funny now, but at the time....
L
I have an uncle who drove to the hospital when he had chest pains and lived. The ER doctor said he was having a heart attack and that if he had been there a few minutes later, he would have died before reaching the hospital. ER could not have gotten him there sooner -- even ER admitted that. He was within a mile of the hospital.
Don't forget sex!!
I work IN a hospital, and would still likely call 911 unless I was in a clinical area. I work in the dungeon of our hospital where our primary data center is located. I often work isolated and alone, and would rather have paramedics on the way if I felt such symptoms than to collapse in an isolated part of the facility with no one knowing what happened to me.
Then again, I suppose if I was near a hospital phone at the time I could always call a Code on myself.
Depends where you live. Some places, it might be a mistake. When my mom was pregnant with one of my brothers she was diagnosed with placenta previa and knowing she might need an emergency trip to the hospital any minute, talked to the local EMS and explained everything ahead of time. When it did come that she needed to go to the hospital, immediately, it took them so long to arrive that my dad had given up and taken her himself. And they didn't send an ambulance, they sent a paramedic in a pickup truck.
Admittedly that was an odd combination of a really good hospital ten minutes away and a really small suburban community without a lot of emergency workers, but still. People should know what their rapid response will be.
Wow, when did you meet my father?
[Laughing so I don't scream...]
*sigh* I won't do it again...
This is what I'm so afraid of - that I'll have something happen out in public and someone will call an ambulance for me (as they should) but I can't pay for, or even obligate myself to pay for, an ambulance at this point in my life, so I wouldn't call one myself.
Thanks, Gunner. Worth remembering.
Have a nice (stress-free?) weekend.
I asked my hubby to read your post.
He was so impressed with your advice that he printed out a copy for his coworkers to read.
I think I'll do the same thing on Monday.
Thanks again.