Resuscitation

[Fnaar]

Yes, well done for stepping in... useful to know what to do in the circumstances, and I'm sure feelings of guilt will go away.... you did what you could, and probably better than most could.
I was in nursing many yrs ago, and dealt with heart attacks etc on the ward... left the job for personal reasons, and went in a totally different direction career-wise, but was able to help out on 2 occasions subsequently (1 on a ferry, the other in t'street)

 

[Dayvo]

I fully agree with everyones' comments here, janey: you and your husband performed heroically, but this fella's number was up, it was not because you failed!
This is the kind of action that too few people get involved with when an unfortunate situation like this arises; but it's re-assuring to know that people like you and your husband are out there and prepared to have a go.

 

[rich p]

Well done you. At least he stood a chance with you helping him, I, to my shame, would have been a useless bystander.

 

[yenrod]

I often look if a person needing help requires it and if they have good or medically trained persons with them then i'll go one my way..if not i'll help out as best I can as I have been thru' resuscitation training and 1st aid etc..

Yuh done your best girl and your tried - lifes about trying not the outcome!

100% effort for you and husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CopperBrompton]

I've had to perform CPR twice, both times motorcycle accidents, both times a casualty with a very obviously broken neck. On neither occasion did I think there was any hope at all, and I was right. It sounds like your situation was the same.

But as first-aiders, we're not qualified to make that decision, so we give CPR and wait for more qualified help to arrive.

I talked about it to a paramedic who said that drownings are the only case where CPR has a high success rate. In most other cases, by the time the heart has stopped, it is unlikely to start again. But it does happen sometimes, and a small chance is very much better than no chance at all.

It is a traumatic thing to experience, though, and talking about it is the best thing to do.

Ben

 

[Maz]

OK, so here's the crunch question that no ones asked yet... What's the proper way to give CPR?

 

[Twenty Inch]

Before we get into a long discussion on the proper way to give CPR, the Red Cross instructor on my last course told us (informally) that there are very, very few instances of people surviving once they need CPR. I think he said something along the lines of "you do it so that his friends think someone's helping, and you carry on until the ambulance arrives or until you're exhausted - about 20 mins". I'm paraphrasing.

JaneyB you did the right thing and tried to help someone. It's a horrible position to be in, the responsibility that you feel at the time is crushing, when people are watching and someone is struggling to live and you're the one who knows how to help. Talk to someone if you need to. You couldn't have done any more than you did, and there probably wouldn't have been a different outcome.

 

[Janeyb]

Thank you all so much for your lovely words. I don't really know what to say. I'm so up and down and feel absolutely ridiculous getting upset about it.....after all, his wife was the one who lost someone! But guess it's just what makes us all human. You have all said such lovely things.....things I know and keep telling myself but you can't help running through it. I need to know in my own mind that I did all I could and did everything right. Your comments have been a great help though.

Thank you.

 

[TVC]

Janey,
I finished my 4 day first aid at work course today with the Red Cross, so along with those above I can say that you did all you could with your knowledge and experience and should be thanked and supported by everyone here.
The feelings of doubt or guilt are natural, so can I pass on what my trainers told me this morning. If you are affected by an incident you have helped with and need to talk about it, call the British Red Cross or St Johns Ambulance, they will get someone to contact you and provide any support or councelling you need.

OK, so here's the crunch question that no ones asked yet... What's the proper way to give CPR?

Maz,
Go to the Red Cross website and get yourself signed up for a course, your employer might well pay for it, the guys at the London Road (Leicester ) training suite are superb. The stuff I've learned this week is fantastic, I wish I'd done it years ago.

 

[CopperBrompton]

OK, so here's the crunch question that no ones asked yet... What's the proper way to give CPR?

The best way to learn it is on a first-aid course, but if you can't manage that for whatever reason, you can learn CPR and a couple of other things on an Emergency Aid course in a couple of hours.

Ben

 

[wafflycat]

Wafflycat,
Finish your story and tell us what happened to the old lady:?:

It was a long time ago - Wafflycat Minor was a baby. I'd been finished a seriously long first aider course and it was about a week later. I was in town with my parents and Wafflycat Minor in his buggy. It was a particularly hot summer day. A few yards from us, an old lady keeled over, cue passers-by saying 'she's going blue!' 'shriek' 'panic!' and various noises. To cut a long story short, I was mentally doing ABC and she was coming up dead and getting bluer by the second. Me & someone else started CPR and kept it going until the ambulance arrived. Apart from the driver it was a new person in the ambulance uniform. She got my parents to take Wafflycat Minor and took me in the back of the ambulance with the old lady and on the drive to hospital (several miles away), we kept the CPR going. Regretfully the old lady didn't make it. One thing they didn't tell us at first aid is if someone is going/already cyanotic, the chances of getting them back are *remote*. It's not like in the hospital dramas on TV where everyone regains a heartbeat and lives to fight another day. It did dwell on me for a long time: did I do the ABC (airway, breathing, circulation) properly? If I had started CPR a bit quicker would it have made a difference? Was I *certain* I did it properly? Was I really certain? Did I make the situation any worse? All sorts of stuff goes through the brain.

Mr Wafflycat was in a situation where he's had to do CPR on a colleague (there were several qualified first aiders there and Mr W was one of them) and the guy in question there didn't make it as the result of a massive heart attack.Mr W too had the same sorts of questions going through his mind. Anyone who has been in that situation will probably have those sorts of questions playing in their mind.

Our experiences is one reason I got Wafflycat Minor enrolled in the St John Ambulance Cadets when he was much smaller - to learn some basic skills.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

you can be proud of yourself janeyb. feel free to use this place cathartically, it's what were here for.

 

[TWBNK]

Don't underestimate the importance of CPR, true - the chances of surviving may be slim even with good cpr being performed on a cardiac arrest.

The chances of surviving are pretty much nil with no CPR.

I am in the happy position of having resuscitated people successfully as a paramedic (and we are talking single figures here against the large number of times it has been unsuccessful and over a period of years) and the common factor in all the successes has been that the heart has stopped either when I have been there, or people have initiated chest compressions before I have got there.

What you have done by performing CPR is fantastic, you have given the man so much of an extra chance. There may have been an unreversible cause of his collapse, but what he did have was a chance while you were doing CPR. The treatment from the paramedics would have had far more chance of success with your intervention than without.

Well Done!

For anyone who wants to know CPR, the St John And Red Cross are good places to learn, also anyone who hasn't learnt it for a while may benefit from a refresher as it is an area that is always changing.... In fact it has changed for the better recently and that is reflected in the fact that I am going to more arrests that have CPR performed before the ambulance arrives than I can remember.

 

[yenrod]

Thank you all so much for your lovely words. I don't really know what to say. I'm so up and down and feel absolutely ridiculous getting upset about it.....after all, his wife was the one who lost someone! But guess it's just what makes us all human. You have all said such lovely things.....things I know and keep telling myself but you can't help running through it. I need to know in my own mind that I did all I could and did everything right. Your comments have been a great help though.

Thank you.

..that struck a bell with me when you 'explained' about his wife, in the 1st post. Like a jolt to your soul. When everyone goes about their everyday business you hardly ever think of the etherality of situations when things are soo 'physical'.

God knows what your going through - this thread definately 'welled me up'.

From an outsiders pointofview - I've seen people giving CPR etc..and that respect that they have in the form of giving someone a 'slight chance' is truly truly immeasurable.

 

[mickle]

The world needs more folk like you and Mr b. You did the right thing and you should be proud. Once the trauma of the situation has passed I hope you'll come to see that what you did in that situation was courageous and selfless and good. The outcome was beyond your control. Respect.