My legs hurt, my head hurts, my feet hurt, I'm burnt, my brain turns off every now and then because I'm so tired, and loving every moment of it.
I pulled a "double shift" yesterday. I worked the afternoon (3pm-11pm) and the night (11pm-7am) shift, then fell asleep from 8am until 2pm, went to the beach (I know, it's a tough life), and then spent four hours documenting/photographing thousands of Israeli's taking to the street and calling for a revolution.
Emergency calls are running together in my memory, and I am so thankful that I write every single one down in my handy dandy notebook If I didn't, I wouldn't remember 3/4 of my calls. The reason is because you can't think about them, as my drama teacher in highschool, Mr. Gardner, has said many many times: "You can't think about the basket you just made in the basketball game and keep focusing on how great the shot was, your head has to be in the moment" That's what it is like working in Emergency Medicine, yes it was wonderful that I had a second successful CPR (I will give the details down below) but I can't keep thinking about it for the next five patients that I have. Kind of a no-brainer realization, but I thought it would be nice to write down.
My second "successful" CPR: I was working on the natan (the advanced-life-support ambulance with two paramedics) with one of my really good friends, Brooke. We had one call before the CPR, just a normal elderly woman with chest pain.
When we were driving back from the hospital we get a call for an unconscious 86-year old man. For some reason, I always mix up the words for unconscious and CPR in Hebrew (they sound similar), so I asked the driver "We are going to a CPR?" and he said "Nope, thats (insert the hebrew word here that is too complicated to write in english)". However, around 2 minutes after we started driving lights and sirens to the call, the call changes to a CPR. The driver, Roni, says "Dammit Aaron look what you did!" because I jinxed it, oops. Brooke was really excited because she was finally going to a CPR, an experience that she really wanted to be apart of before she leaves Israel.
We arrived on scene and there were two ambulances there already, one Magen David Adom ambulance, and one private-company ambulance. The patient was on the fourth floor which is always fun to walk up with all the equipment. When we walk in, they have already started compressions and incubating the patient.
Let me explain again what a successful CPR means from my previous blog post on my first successful one. When I say that a CPR was successful, I don't mean that right when we start compressions the patient jumps up and is fully awake and is back to normal and screams "Thanks!". A successful CPR is when a person gets a pulse back and keeps the pulse, but still unconscious, all the way back to the hospital. Essentially it is bringing someone back to life, because to start CPR the patient has no pulse and is clinically dead (even though we aren't aloud to call someone dead).
The medic who was doing compressions asked me to switch with him right when I got in. Compressions weren't so nerve wracking anymore because I have already done a CPR before. Like I did with the first CPR, I prepared myself mentally that this will probably not be successful, considering that the majority of the time CPRs are not successful. I did several sets of compressions then switched with Brooke.
There were so many people in the apartment, probably 10-12 emergency personal. To help, I decided to be the designated trash guy. I walked around and picked up all the junk, garbage, and wrappers on the floor. It was a lot of fun actually, and I followed my driver around so he could have the trash bag right there. He called me "pach" which means trash can, and that made me laugh really hard.
The patient was "under", meaning no pulse, for about 30 minutes and I was almost sure this was going to be an unsuccessful CPR. The thought of someone being clinically dead for 30 minutes and then getting a pulse back sounds completely ridiculous and impossible, it isn't.
I switched with the medic and started compressions for my second set. The paramedic said to just keep going until we tell you to stop. I did about 70 or 80 compressions and then told me to stop so the EKG monitor could analyze the patient. About 5 seconds later, we hear a beeping sound. WOW! it was an exceptional feeling and I stood up and Brooke and I exchanged a look of "I can't believe that just happened."
Everyone was drenched in sweat because there was no AC in the apartment. Even though there was a lot more work that the paramedics had to do with the airway of the patient, it was a very satisfying feeling knowing that for the second time in a week I can honestly say that I saved someone's life. I have had two CPRs, and both successful, so I'm still 100% successful! I hope I can keep that record going.
Although, this patient will probably be a vegetable, IF he lives long enough to get to the hospital. Roni called this a "Vegetable CPR", because even though it was successful and there was a pulse and breathing on his own, the patient will not live very long after that. Even so, it was another experience I will never forget.
As we carried the patient in the "stairchair" downstairs, we had to start compressions several times because he would lose his pulse.
In the end, we got him onto the private-companies ambulance with a pulse. I'm not sure what happened with him after they left for the hospital, but I know that the team I was with kept his pulse until we left.
And that was my second "successful" CPR! Tomorrow morning, I am going with a MDA friend of mine, Per, to a huge birthright convention (supposedly about 1,000 Birthrighters) and we are representing and presenting the Magen David Adom overseas volunteer program. I am really excited and will update on my blog how it goes tomorrow!
Until next time,
Yallah Bye
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