This Happened Today:(
I got in from poker last night at 530am. My girlfriend's sister in law is visiting with her 2 year old son. My girlfriend went to work at 9am and I went back to sleep to be awoken by her sister in law screaming for me and then running up into her bedroom with with her son who was in respiratory arrest/cyanotic, non responsive and hypothermic after falling into the pond in the backyard where she was hanging out with him. She must have taken her eye off of him for a minute and then did not hear him making any noise -- she found him floating in the pond and not responding.
She quickly told me that she did a Heimlich maneuver on him several times and attempted CPR which resulted in his vomiting/coughing up some fluid. On my bedroom floor, I performed CPR on him for 10 minutes until the paramedics arrived -- took off his wet clothes, wrapped him in blankets and performed chest comprehensions and mouth to mouth. When I started CPR he was so cold, stiff and unresponsive that I was almost certain that he was going to die in front of me. I could feel a weak pulse and a low heart rate at the onset of CPR and it took at least several minutes to get him breathing again on his own. Thankfully, by the time the paramedics arrived he was crying/responsive, breathing with a normal heart rate and his gums were back to somewhat pink. He is now in ICU on a ventilator and a ketamine CRI to keep him sedated. He seems neurologically appropriate and has some pulmonary edema and aspiration pneumonia.
I have never done CPR on a person before although I have performed it many, many times over 14 years of being an emergency vet. As I drove to the hospital to meet my girlfriend and her family I began crying. What an overwhelming emotional experience. I had not yet met the sister in law or her son until I was awoken this morning as I was out of town until late last night. He will be staying in ICU overnight and hopefully continue to slowly improve.
She quickly told me that she did a Heimlich maneuver on him several times and attempted CPR which resulted in his vomiting/coughing up some fluid. On my bedroom floor, I performed CPR on him for 10 minutes until the paramedics arrived -- took off his wet clothes, wrapped him in blankets and performed chest comprehensions and mouth to mouth. When I started CPR he was so cold, stiff and unresponsive that I was almost certain that he was going to die in front of me. I could feel a weak pulse and a low heart rate at the onset of CPR and it took at least several minutes to get him breathing again on his own. Thankfully, by the time the paramedics arrived he was crying/responsive, breathing with a normal heart rate and his gums were back to somewhat pink. He is now in ICU on a ventilator and a ketamine CRI to keep him sedated. He seems neurologically appropriate and has some pulmonary edema and aspiration pneumonia.
I have never done CPR on a person before although I have performed it many, many times over 14 years of being an emergency vet. As I drove to the hospital to meet my girlfriend and her family I began crying. What an overwhelming emotional experience. I had not yet met the sister in law or her son until I was awoken this morning as I was out of town until late last night. He will be staying in ICU overnight and hopefully continue to slowly improve.
Comments
ditto, ditto. +1 Makes fed stories seem awfully small..
Please keep us updated on the little guy's status.
Congrats on keeping your composure (in my wildest dreams I could not imagine) and summoning the strength and knowledge to save his fragile life. Hopefully the recovery is fully and completely.
I'm not certain that this is an appropriate place to post this, but just wanted to write it down and most everyone on here seems like a good person so I couldn't see any harm in it.
I think I am mostly surprised by my emotional response afterward in that I deal with this very often at work, albeit on animals and not a human child. I guess it is easier to compartmentalized things in a professional environment than during a random life occurrence. I am wondering a bit if this can be a healthy thing over 14 years of emergency vet work and is part of the reason I am looking to purchase a day practice...hopefully I can go more time between deep thoughts of life and death:)
You sir are my goddamned hero.
Mark
Apparently Quebec does not cover out of province health care which is retarded...Quebec tho...may as well live in the USA.
Very will done sir. You are a true hero.
I'm glad to hear that the boy is doing a lot better. Here's hoping for a full recovery.
Wow. As others have said, very well done GTA. I've always thought that everyone should take a first aid course. You never know when you'll be called upon.
You've made us proud.
Well done !! Glad the little guy is doing well.
Good for you DJ. You just never know what life will throw at you. When I lived out in Vancouver I registered for my 1st first aid course. On the way home I saw a woman get hit by a car 5' away from me. Earlier this year my wife took a first aid course and bought a kit. Next art class with little kids she had to use the kit.
One of my friends is a thoracic surgeon out in Calgary. He was always what you might call "cold" emotionally. He was always that way. When I found out he was headed down the career path he chose I was not surprised as he seemed ideally suited, for the very reasons you mention . . . compartmentalizing things, etc. I do not think it is a question of healthy/unhealthy so much as it is a question of how you deal with it when you switch from one "compartment" to another. He was always a "different" person at school then when we were out at a bar. Not sure if I am explaining it adequately enough, but I hope you take my meaning.
And thanks for trusting us with this story . . . to say nothing of the amazing job you did.
Nonsense . . . thank YOU for a hell of a job in saving that young man's life.
Pretty sure that anyone here would do the same
Context is really important obviously. The things you do at your job, are your job. This wasn't your job, but you hit it out of the park clearly.
Likely not too much of a stretch to suggest you were in shock?
To perform those tasks with a clear head under incredible stress is incredibly taxing. Had to shake that off somehow at some point.
Well done though GTA. That family is lucky you were there.
He is home now and back to being healthy and normal.