Heroes & Miracles

I work as a paramedic, I see some crazy stuff, but I am not some sap that believes that I work amongst heroes and witness miracles. Both those words kinda make me cringe. First of all we are trained in what we do. We go to work like most people who are lucky enough to be employed and do what we are hired to do. No one I work with comes to work for the sole purpose of helping others, saving lives, or changing the world. We come for the paycheck, the benefits, and the retirement. Therefore not heroes. As far as miracles – usually its just a quick medical intervention that prevents further demise. That’s kinda our forte – get there quick and fix the problem before someone dies. So on the rare occasion that we are really able to make a difference we think of it more like a good day at work than a miracle.

All that being said, a hero's work produced a miracle at work this last week….

Mark, a paramedic, yelled out to his wife on Friday morning that something was wrong. She got to his side as he collapsed and stopped breathing. She sent her young daughter to get a neighbor, set her one year-old son down, called 911 and performed CPR on her husband.

The paramedics arrived and were obviously horrified to realize that it was a co-worker and friend lying in front of them clinically dead. They did their thing (pretty flawlessly) and were eventually able to get his heart beating again.

The news spread like wildfire “Mark was transported in full arrest” (what we call someone who doesn’t have a heartbeat and isn’t breathing.) There was an understanding that it was only a matter of time before we would hear the news that he had died.

News came…they were able to stabilize him for the moment, but his prognosis was grim.

The next day, Saturday, he woke up. He recognized his mom and wife and wasn’t happy about being on a ventilator. Later that day he was taken off the ventilator.

He had a pacemaker/defibrillator put in on Monday and was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday.

He cleaned his pool and walked his daughter to school on Wednesday.

Less than 0.1% of people survive being “dead”. Those that do survive spend months in the hospital and in rehabilitation centers and often do not fully recover.

It is a miracle that Mark can continue to be a husband to his wife and a father to his children and hopefully soon a paramedic to the people of Ventura County. His wife is a hero for her quick thinking and appropriate actions in a time of unimaginable stress, chaos, and fear.

Welcome back Mark!

Afterthought – I would love to say to him “Hey Mark, what did you do over the weekend?” And have him reply “Not much, just died and came back.” – That’s kind of sick paramedic humor. I also wonder if he saw some kind of light or had any crazy experiences on “the other side”. I always wonder what our dead patients can see. Are they watching us work on them...creepy! Maybe someday I’ll ask.