edyzmedieval
12-15-2005, 14:30
Shocking....
Tis what I call doctor+God miracle.
A NON-SMOKER and teetotaller "died" 32 times in 20 minutes after a heart attack.
Lesley Hackwell, 49, an engineer with four daughters suffered a succession of cardiac arrests after suffering the attack this year. He had to be resuscitated after every attack.
Yesterday, as he paid tribute to the doctors who saved his life, he said at his home in Gloucester "You have to be grateful for a lot of things in life. These things challenge you. I just think it wasn't my time to go.
"Not long after I got to A&E I suffered two cardiac arrests. It had already been quite an ordeal but when I was taken up to the coronary ward I flat-lined 32 times in 20 minutes. I was neither alive nor dead. It was really quite remarkable that they managed to save me. They did an unbelievable job. Because of their hard work I lived to see another day."
Mr.Hackwell had woken up in the early hours of July 12 feeling a sharp pain in his chest and was taken by ambulance to Gloucester Royal Hospital by ambulance, suffering from a coronary heart attack.
He quickly suffered two cardiac arrests but was stabilised after doctors used a defibrillator, a device that produces an electric shock to start the heart beating again.
He was then given an anti-clotting drug to thin the blood but suffered a series of cardiac arrests over the next 20 minutes as the medical team fought to keep him alive.
He had to be shocked with the defibrillator so many times that he had burns on his chest. He was then transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, for further treatment. Mr Hackwell, who had led a healthy way of life before his heart attack, said it would take him 18 months to recover fully.
"I don't take anything for granted any more," he said.
Dr Nick West, his cardiologist at Gloucester said it was unusual for a patient to suffer so many cardiac arrests. He explained that, as a result of the heart attack, Mr Hackwell's artery had closed up and the anti-clotting drug had been administered to reopen it. However, the drug can cause the artery to open and close, which in turn causes the heart to beat out of rhythm and lead to cardiac arrests.
Tis what I call doctor+God miracle.
A NON-SMOKER and teetotaller "died" 32 times in 20 minutes after a heart attack.
Lesley Hackwell, 49, an engineer with four daughters suffered a succession of cardiac arrests after suffering the attack this year. He had to be resuscitated after every attack.
Yesterday, as he paid tribute to the doctors who saved his life, he said at his home in Gloucester "You have to be grateful for a lot of things in life. These things challenge you. I just think it wasn't my time to go.
"Not long after I got to A&E I suffered two cardiac arrests. It had already been quite an ordeal but when I was taken up to the coronary ward I flat-lined 32 times in 20 minutes. I was neither alive nor dead. It was really quite remarkable that they managed to save me. They did an unbelievable job. Because of their hard work I lived to see another day."
Mr.Hackwell had woken up in the early hours of July 12 feeling a sharp pain in his chest and was taken by ambulance to Gloucester Royal Hospital by ambulance, suffering from a coronary heart attack.
He quickly suffered two cardiac arrests but was stabilised after doctors used a defibrillator, a device that produces an electric shock to start the heart beating again.
He was then given an anti-clotting drug to thin the blood but suffered a series of cardiac arrests over the next 20 minutes as the medical team fought to keep him alive.
He had to be shocked with the defibrillator so many times that he had burns on his chest. He was then transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, for further treatment. Mr Hackwell, who had led a healthy way of life before his heart attack, said it would take him 18 months to recover fully.
"I don't take anything for granted any more," he said.
Dr Nick West, his cardiologist at Gloucester said it was unusual for a patient to suffer so many cardiac arrests. He explained that, as a result of the heart attack, Mr Hackwell's artery had closed up and the anti-clotting drug had been administered to reopen it. However, the drug can cause the artery to open and close, which in turn causes the heart to beat out of rhythm and lead to cardiac arrests.