Wow. Life gets up close and personal

[billanole]

sometimes when you least expect it.
A great friend nearly tapped out tonight. Al was working center ref of of our local high school's soccer match against the county rival. He simply fell over... The EMTs used the paddles to shock his heart and bring him back around. Al responded later that he felt bad about letting his fellow refs down by not finishing the match.
Cmon, brother. Be strong and get better soon.

 

[gunnyhiway]

 

[billanole]

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How much longer do we each have?

 

[LesClaypool]

That's an intense story. Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

 

[tarheelinfl]

I referee HS basketball and two years ago we had a ref do the same thing in a game. I wasn't working that game, but heard about the next night. Very scary stuff. He got better and went back to calling the next season. But he had some more issues and had to give it up this year.

 

[billanole]

Al is looking fine (well, fine is relative ha ha) and is in good spirits. Waiting on test results, but electro cardio guy speculates that he had a small "event" in the past which resulted in scar tissue. This tissue interrupted heart rhythm the other night. He is noncommittal, at least in front of his wife, about getting back on the pitch.
I asked him what it felt like and he said things got kinda fuzzy for a few seconds while running, but he can't remember falling. He was out for two-three minutes. Whew!

 

[SoddyNole]

Who won?

Glad your friend is ok. Maybe he needs to stay at the AR position but then again listening to the parents on the sideline can be more stressful.

 

[billanole]

Who won?

Glad your friend is ok. Maybe he needs to stay at the AR position but then again listening to the parents on the sideline can be more stressful.

It was eighteen minutes into a rivalry match, which was cancelled and will happen later. I wasn't there, but often serve as his designated heckler. He was bitching yesterday about the newbie linesmen he had for the match and blaming the ref scheduler for his stress level going up.

 

[Wendy79]

Glad he's doing well. And I hope this will prompt others to get checked out.

Side note...the defibrillator's job is to stop the heart (the way it's beating in v-fib is not conducive to anything...it's movinh like a bag of worms). And then you pray the heart will start beating again (ideally from the SA node...sinus rhythm).

 

[RangerNole]

That is also a nice save foe the EMT's. Emergency medicine has come a long way when it comes to cardiac arrest; especially a witnessed arrest. Our town even though it is small is one of the national leaders in using hypothermia for a witnessed arrest; doing that can really increase survivability and help reduce brain damage. Hope your buddy makes a full recovery.

 

[QuaZ2002]

Give him an ICD and put him back out there.

 

[billanole]

That is also a nice save foe the EMT's. Emergency medicine has come a long way when it comes to cardiac arrest; especially a witnessed arrest. Our town even though it is small is one of the national leaders in using hypothermia for a witnessed arrest; doing that can really increase survivability and help reduce brain damage. Hope your buddy makes a full recovery.

Yep. Nice work indeed. The school trainers were actually who used the AED, but several of the players had already rolled him over and started chest compressions before the trainers could reach him. He is a lucky guy. It turns out this particular AED unit has now been used three times at the stadium. Wow.
I just got word that Al hit the trifecta...triple bypass is scheduled for Monday.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

At least he didn't have a concussion.

 

[HerdOfNoles]

Absolutely nothing will get your attention like having the cardiologist in the cath lab decide you need one more time on the treadmill...

 

[Wendy79]

Absolutely nothing will get your attention like having the cardiologist in the cath lab decide you need one more time on the treadmill...

Or having an ICD go off after your heart rate hits 317bpm. 8 seconds to charge. Hooray for technology (my friend has been waiting for a new heart for over 2 years).

 

[FreeFlyNole]

I have a similar story from when I was a kid playing pound football. Our coach was a guy named Troy Bell, he coached my team for several years, was one of the toughest sonuvaguns I'd ever met.

I went into the head to take a squirt and he was standing there at the urinal with his hand on the wall grunting. I rolled up to the urinal a couple over from him, and at the time I started to go, he fell over, what appeared to me dead.

I tried to rouse him, no response, to my 9 year old brain he was dead. I ran outside for help. A bunch of folks ran in there and revived him and called 911.

Turns out he was passing a kidney stone.

No need for an ICD.