Heart Stopped Briefly

Heather's scared us all for a moment this morning. The respiratory therapist was adjusting the air flow on Heather's ventilator and noticed that there seemed to be some raspiness in the tube. So, she began suctioning out the tube, which purposely induces a cough to pull out any fluid and/or phlegm down there. As she was doing this Heather's heart stopped. I have never seen so many doctors and nurses coming running all at once in my life. It was VERY disturbing! Before they could do anything, Heather's heart began beating again and she was fine. The doctors told me that, though this is uncommon, the cough reaction can stimulate the vagus nerve which causes a reaction in which the chest tightens up to the point where the heart cannot beat. I do not want to replay that experience ever again. It was reassuring, however, that all those doctors and nurses came so fast. They really seem on top of things.

I have talked with Heather some today, but she seems very tired. She was feeling some pain when I first got here, but the nurses quickly remedied that. In order to facilitate communication, they gave us an electronic device with oversized letters, similar to a large calculator and about the size of a piece of paper. We have tried using this to spell out things Heather wants. The first thing she asked for was, "snack." Unfortunately she can't eat anything with her tube in. She seemed quite frustrated by that. The second thing she asked for was, "date." Though I am not completely sure about it, it seemed that she wanted to know the dates of her various surgeries and the current date (She has a large, daily calendar on the wall.). She also asked to see pictures of Hannah. My sister brought us two large pictures of our family, which Heather has asked to see a couple of times. I also showed her some pictures I have of Hannah on my laptop. That is all she has had energy for today.

They moved Heather to a new room in the ICU. Because they have so few patients right now, they closed down one wing of the ICU. It's kind of a bummer, because she had a really nice, sunny view of the valley in her old room. Now she just has a cold, dark view of construction. Oh well, at least her heart is still beating.