Day One Glory! Plus Great Resusc Story

Alcohol units - 0

Calories - scant

Fast with Magical Juice - SUCCESSFUL!!!

Weight loss in one day - 5 pounds! God I love diuresis!!!

Yeah for me! I got through day one. I never complain about my health or aches or pains, but holy moly I had a massive headache last night and this AM from no caffiene all day. GAWD it hurt. And made me, well. . . less than pleasant to hubby.

(Cartoon courtesy of: www.cartoonstock.com)

Okay, so Day one complete and thank to diuresis I pee'd off 5 pounds of fluid! Joy and success. I know this is just water loss but seeing the scale go down is a mental helper. It gives me motivation to keep going. I am midday into Day 2 - liver lovin' veggies and slimming star foods.

Here is what I had for breakfast:

Massive cup of coffee - joy!

2 scrambled eggs with cumin and chilipowder for spice - Yum!

Lunch:

1 cup natural yogurt low fat with 3/3 cup raspberries

Baby raw carrots

Plum

Planned dinner:

Slow cooked chicken breast (in crock pot as I type)

Broccoli and cauliflower (steamed and then dabbled with some of the chickenjuice)

- I admit I am using the power of positive thinking to choke down the cauliflower.

Cooked carrots

Baked apple with 1 tbs ground flax and cinnamon on top (gotta get that flax in as forgot to put it in yogurt)

I am going to be honest. Technically you should not have coffee. But I don't smoke. And I have given up alcohol. I limit myself to one diet coke a day. And get in all my water. So, sorry. . . . on this point I am NOT flexible. I drink my coffee strong and black. So. . .my liver will have to forgive me this one vice. Goal: being totally honest here in my liver de-tox experiment. I will report the results at the top of my blog daily for a bit. Acountability. Accountability.

Now for the GREAT resusc story. It really is about the ABCs.

I got a call to help staff the ICU. My current role is as a hospital base nurse educator. We were getting in a post V-Tach/V-Fib arrest (lethal rhythms, i.e you are dead if we don't fix those - for those not medical) Careflighted from a small hospital in Durant, OK. He had been defibbed 4 times prior to arrival. Entubated. Shocked another two times on the cath lab table. He was stented x 3 to his LAD.

Yahoo! Just my kinda patient. I couldn't pull on my scrubs fast enough. Off I went. I got there just as he rolled in. Femoral sheaths still in place. Five drips: Dopamine; Integrilin; Amiodarone; Propofol; and mainline fluids. LOVIN IT!!!! He was having reperfusion arrythmias with short runs of V-tach. Still on the vent. His sheath was oozing and he required some direct pressure to his groin as his ACT was still too high.

I got the story: he was 72, woke up "not feeling good." Smoked 2 ppd. Called daughter to take him to hospital. She was delayed. So . . .(don't they all do this UGGH) drove himself. He arrived to triage with the complaint, "I just don't feel right." Triage was not busy, so took him back for vitals. As she is getting them, his eyes roll back. He is out! PEA (Pulseless Electrical Activity). She calls a code.

He is bagged and CPR begun. Then he V-tachs the first time. Shock. Airway was maintained beautifully with bagging. They continue to code. Shock him again. When they get his rhythm back he has HUGE ST elevation in his V lead.

Small town ER doc calls for air evac transport. He is started on TPA. In the chopper, he arrests again. V-tach requiring two more shocks. He is tubed at this point. Great bagging continues. We are the only cath lab spot open. He is taken to XYZ hospital. On the cath lab table, they shock him another two times in-between stents.

So, now I have him. The BIG QUESTION with post arrests is: neuro status. We can often fix the heart. But if the responders didn't give super-duper quality basic life support. -with great airway! Forget it. You now have a veg head.

About 20 minutes into my caring for him, I repeated a neuro check. My co-worker was just shaking his head. Sad case. Six shocks. All wagered he'd be a gomer! As I asked him, "Mr. Wilson. . . can you hear me?" Suddenly, he nodded. I thought I was seeing things. So I sternally rubbed him and asked again. OMG. . he shook his head! CRIKEY!

I shouted, "Hey. . great news. . .he is bloody well in there! Christ almighty, wadda ya know!" His wife was elated. She gave me the biggest hug. I had her hold his hand and kiss him. When doc rounded, I told him "Dude. . have I gotta a surprise for you!" He said, "Yeah, I know I fixed his heart. But I bet he isn't in there." I lead him by the hand. "Go ask him to shake your hand." He did. "OMG! He's there." I said, "You did good work in there. " Tears welled in his eyes. "Yeah, somedays I like my job." And I said, "We oughta be buying the guys up in Durant a big steak dinner!" He said, "No doubt." Then, he wanted to know if I would sign off his ACLS renewal as he used all the algorhythms today! Haha. . .for SURE I will.

Just goes to show you. It really is ALL about the ABCs. Airway, airway, airway.