Thank you for sharing your story. I had no idea about sudden cardiac arrest. I'm grateful that your husband was one of the 10% that made it through. Wishing both you many more years of health!
Powerful story. I had no idea about sudden cardiac arrest so thanks for sharing your post. Cheers to the years since you met in high school and wishing you both many more decades.
Just wow! I couldn’t stop reading and had tears as I read. What a powerful story about faith and love. Thank you for sharing yourself, so raw and personal and so important to inform us! My husband was not so lucky...he just didn’t wake from a nap. Ten years later I still miss him. Wishing you both good health and happiness ...congratulations on becoming grandparents soon! What a gift, what joy... grandpa-to-be was meant to be here! 😊❤️
Thank you, Joan, for the very kind and supportive wishes. I am so sorry about your husband. I can imagine how much you miss him! I have subscribed to Accept*Adapt*Applaud and am looking forward to the wise words on life I'm sure you have to share.
Wow, I honestly can't imagine having to go through something like that. It sounds as though you handled the situation amazingly though but what an awful thing for you all to go through. It's interesting what you say about your body remembering even if it's not specifically in your mind - it reminds me of something one of my yoga teachers said to me - your body is your biography - I found this to be such a powerful statement and often think on it. I think my husband could definitely relate with your worry, my husband has also rushed home from work once when he couldn't get hold of me. By the time he go home he was a complete mess and my only thought was that I'd scarred him for life but I'm hoping that will get easier as the years pass. Thank you for sharing your story and raising awareness. I'm glad your husband made it through!
Oh, I love, "your body is your biography," - that makes so much sense! Yes, complete mess is exactly right! It might never go away completely, but it will get easier with time. I wonder if the fact that your husband couldn't be with you because of Covid added to his anxiety. I'm not sure how I could have managed if I hadn't been able to be with my husband in the hospital. Thank you for your kind thoughts!!
It's a great statement isn't it and it does make so much sense. I'm hoping it will get easier for him and I think you're right that it may be worse because of not being able to come with me to the hospital, I know it was very difficult for him. I think there is often so much emphasis on the person that the trauma happens to that the carer sometimes gets forgotten about and I think in moments like you and my husband have had it makes it clear how difficult it is from the other side.
Agree! As a carer, I don't want to take away from what my husband experienced, but it sure helps that he realizes how much it impacted me and understands why I get a little crazy sometimes. Sounds like you and your husband have a similar understanding!
Yes very much so. We both agreed from the beginning that the way we would work through it was to just communicate with each other about what we were feeling. Things like these can take a toll on a marriage but we're a team and we get through it together!
So thankful your husband survived! Thanks for sharing your story and for reminding us of the warning signs as well as the importance of being grateful for every day we have with our loved ones!
This is such a moving post Cherrie—thank you for finding the strength to share it. From your painful experience you've so generously helped me understand the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest; such important information that surely our health care systems should be teaching us. Wishing you and your husband good health and many more years together.
Its so odd how I didn't know these differences. My best friend's husband died two years ago and I've been saying it was a heart attack but from this description is was an SCA. My ex-husband and father of my twins had several heart attacks a few years ago which he ignored, followed by a massive stroke. He had a similar experience to your husband in terms of sedation and recovery. He was in acute nursing care for 5 months. He didn't speak to us for three months, began to write - "Iced Double Mochachino" was the first thing he wrote down in his illegible sprawl. Now he is walking and talking and even a little bit of parenting. A little. It is terrifying what happened. And amazing what people can survive. Including you - keep surviving! this was excellent.
Thank you so much, Camille! Yes, it is amazing what people can survive - so much more than we would think possible! I wish continued recovery for your ex-husband. Recovery can go on for so long. No doubt it's had an impact on you and the twins too. Funny about the Iced Double Mochachino - was that his favorite that he was wishing for, or out of the blue? After my husband's stroke (separate incident/another story) - he meant to call me "Sweet Pea" and instead called me "Seatbelt." Just gotta laugh sometimes!
i'm glad you shared this, along with the details you remember of "the incident" and what led up to it and the ten years since. I didn't know about sudden cardiac arrest either. Lots of "humor, patience, and kindness" back to you.
Thank you, Kirie! I just saw how you came up with "Artist Chicken" today and had a good laugh. I'll be heading over to your Substack as well! I appreciate you reading!
This is an essential distinction for everyone to know, thank you for sharing your moving & scary experience, Cherie.
My Dad had congestive heart failure, and an arrhythmia, which he had several SCA episodes, and then the rhythm restarted. I'll be writing about my experience at some point, but it's raw because we walked a very thin line & on eggshells, never knowing exactly when something would happen. His cancer destabilised his heart failure. in short, I got to know the names of the paramedics.
For our situation, I had to get very clear about what we would do 'in the moment' because Dad had a DNR, so I wasn't meant to perform CPR. A bigger article/discussion & topic.
Oh, I'll be watching for that one, Victoria! Getting to know the names of the paramedics is heart-breaking, and yet I imagine it gave you come comfort at the same time. Thank you for reading, and for your extremely helpful Substack!
Thanks Cherie. Yes, the paramedics were all extremely empathetic and I made a note in my phone of their names and the ER doctors. I'm not sure when I'll write that article - I just started to write a synopsis here but it's waay too long!
Please feel free to 'tag' me in a post - I can't always get to read it immediately, but I will eventually! THANKS for your support and encouragement. Your feedback fuels me to continue. If there is a particular question or topic you'd like me to consider for future posts just let me know. Take care
Thanks, Victoria! I will let you know. Yes, my next story is way too long also, so I'm going to do in over multiple weeks. I have the first one ready to go for tomorrow, but most of it isn't written yet. It will be a bit of an experiment to see how a multi-part story goes over with readers.
Thank you for sharing your story. I had no idea about sudden cardiac arrest. I'm grateful that your husband was one of the 10% that made it through. Wishing both you many more years of health!
Thank you so much, Ilona! Yes, many more years of health to us all!
Powerful story. I had no idea about sudden cardiac arrest so thanks for sharing your post. Cheers to the years since you met in high school and wishing you both many more decades.
Thank you, Deb! And we are just finally about to be grandparents in May, so they should be good decades coming up! Thanks for the re-stack!
You're welcome Cheri. My granddaughter is 14 months old. You're going to LOVE being a grandparent!
Just wow! I couldn’t stop reading and had tears as I read. What a powerful story about faith and love. Thank you for sharing yourself, so raw and personal and so important to inform us! My husband was not so lucky...he just didn’t wake from a nap. Ten years later I still miss him. Wishing you both good health and happiness ...congratulations on becoming grandparents soon! What a gift, what joy... grandpa-to-be was meant to be here! 😊❤️
Thank you, Joan, for the very kind and supportive wishes. I am so sorry about your husband. I can imagine how much you miss him! I have subscribed to Accept*Adapt*Applaud and am looking forward to the wise words on life I'm sure you have to share.
Wow, I honestly can't imagine having to go through something like that. It sounds as though you handled the situation amazingly though but what an awful thing for you all to go through. It's interesting what you say about your body remembering even if it's not specifically in your mind - it reminds me of something one of my yoga teachers said to me - your body is your biography - I found this to be such a powerful statement and often think on it. I think my husband could definitely relate with your worry, my husband has also rushed home from work once when he couldn't get hold of me. By the time he go home he was a complete mess and my only thought was that I'd scarred him for life but I'm hoping that will get easier as the years pass. Thank you for sharing your story and raising awareness. I'm glad your husband made it through!
Oh, I love, "your body is your biography," - that makes so much sense! Yes, complete mess is exactly right! It might never go away completely, but it will get easier with time. I wonder if the fact that your husband couldn't be with you because of Covid added to his anxiety. I'm not sure how I could have managed if I hadn't been able to be with my husband in the hospital. Thank you for your kind thoughts!!
It's a great statement isn't it and it does make so much sense. I'm hoping it will get easier for him and I think you're right that it may be worse because of not being able to come with me to the hospital, I know it was very difficult for him. I think there is often so much emphasis on the person that the trauma happens to that the carer sometimes gets forgotten about and I think in moments like you and my husband have had it makes it clear how difficult it is from the other side.
Agree! As a carer, I don't want to take away from what my husband experienced, but it sure helps that he realizes how much it impacted me and understands why I get a little crazy sometimes. Sounds like you and your husband have a similar understanding!
Yes very much so. We both agreed from the beginning that the way we would work through it was to just communicate with each other about what we were feeling. Things like these can take a toll on a marriage but we're a team and we get through it together!
So thankful your husband survived! Thanks for sharing your story and for reminding us of the warning signs as well as the importance of being grateful for every day we have with our loved ones!
Thank you for your kind words, Linda! Yes, we tend to forget how quickly life can change, don't we?
This is such a moving post Cherrie—thank you for finding the strength to share it. From your painful experience you've so generously helped me understand the difference between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest; such important information that surely our health care systems should be teaching us. Wishing you and your husband good health and many more years together.
Thank you, Helen, for the good wishes and the re-stack. It was good for me to get it written after all this time!
Its so odd how I didn't know these differences. My best friend's husband died two years ago and I've been saying it was a heart attack but from this description is was an SCA. My ex-husband and father of my twins had several heart attacks a few years ago which he ignored, followed by a massive stroke. He had a similar experience to your husband in terms of sedation and recovery. He was in acute nursing care for 5 months. He didn't speak to us for three months, began to write - "Iced Double Mochachino" was the first thing he wrote down in his illegible sprawl. Now he is walking and talking and even a little bit of parenting. A little. It is terrifying what happened. And amazing what people can survive. Including you - keep surviving! this was excellent.
Thank you so much, Camille! Yes, it is amazing what people can survive - so much more than we would think possible! I wish continued recovery for your ex-husband. Recovery can go on for so long. No doubt it's had an impact on you and the twins too. Funny about the Iced Double Mochachino - was that his favorite that he was wishing for, or out of the blue? After my husband's stroke (separate incident/another story) - he meant to call me "Sweet Pea" and instead called me "Seatbelt." Just gotta laugh sometimes!
It was his favorite drink. We all thought is was hysterical - a very good sign for him still being in there.
That is hysterical. All he had been through and the coffee is what he wanted. Sounds about right, I guess!
i'm glad you shared this, along with the details you remember of "the incident" and what led up to it and the ten years since. I didn't know about sudden cardiac arrest either. Lots of "humor, patience, and kindness" back to you.
Thank you, Kirie! I just saw how you came up with "Artist Chicken" today and had a good laugh. I'll be heading over to your Substack as well! I appreciate you reading!
So glad you got my play on words. Lots of my writing, like yours, is very serious, and yet I love to smile and laugh, too.
This is an essential distinction for everyone to know, thank you for sharing your moving & scary experience, Cherie.
My Dad had congestive heart failure, and an arrhythmia, which he had several SCA episodes, and then the rhythm restarted. I'll be writing about my experience at some point, but it's raw because we walked a very thin line & on eggshells, never knowing exactly when something would happen. His cancer destabilised his heart failure. in short, I got to know the names of the paramedics.
For our situation, I had to get very clear about what we would do 'in the moment' because Dad had a DNR, so I wasn't meant to perform CPR. A bigger article/discussion & topic.
Oh, I'll be watching for that one, Victoria! Getting to know the names of the paramedics is heart-breaking, and yet I imagine it gave you come comfort at the same time. Thank you for reading, and for your extremely helpful Substack!
Thanks Cherie. Yes, the paramedics were all extremely empathetic and I made a note in my phone of their names and the ER doctors. I'm not sure when I'll write that article - I just started to write a synopsis here but it's waay too long!
Please feel free to 'tag' me in a post - I can't always get to read it immediately, but I will eventually! THANKS for your support and encouragement. Your feedback fuels me to continue. If there is a particular question or topic you'd like me to consider for future posts just let me know. Take care
Thanks, Victoria! I will let you know. Yes, my next story is way too long also, so I'm going to do in over multiple weeks. I have the first one ready to go for tomorrow, but most of it isn't written yet. It will be a bit of an experiment to see how a multi-part story goes over with readers.
Emotional agility was originally 1 article and now its 10! and 2 more coming! I hear you
🙏🏼 thank you
What a phenomenal piece of writing. I felt everything you said about how you were feeling.
That means your writing is becoming more visceral. Excellent.
You have written this so beautifully so so succinctly
whata wonderful piece.
It’s so informative and very clear
I’ve been a nurse for over 30 years and can tell
you are spot on with it all .🙏🏼🙂💕
Thank you so much, Denise! I appreciate you sharing your nurse perspective and I'm so grateful for the compliments!