my side and said, “It’s alright, you
were at church.”
Hearing that, I was completely
confused.
“What has happened, what am I
doing in this ambulance?”
I later learned that while waiting to
step onto the platform and beginning
to feel dizzy; I had dropped dead.
My heart stopped and I fell face
forward.
I was mercifully caught by a man
standing close enough to intervene
who guided my lifeless body to the
floor, where I was laid upon my back.
Eyes open.
As my sister was telling me I had
been at church, the paramedics
quickly rolled me into the Emergency
Department
As soon as we got in, I had a second
cardiac arrest.
Considering how long I had been
without a pulse after my initial
collapse, I was not expected to live
that night. My diagnosis was Sudden
Cardiac Death.
I never for one moment
thought I was dying.
Though I was "down" for
approximately twenty minutes, (give
or take a couple minutes), at my
church and the hospital inclusive, the
doctors and nurses were amazed
that not only did I come back, but I
miraculously suffered no brain
damage!
I was alert, and speaking with the
doctors and visitors in the emergency
department within two hours of my
heart initially stopping. I answered all
their questions and understood what
they explained.
Each doctor and nurse who saw me
in the hospital, as well as during my
many office visits over the next
months, all agree I’m a miracle. I was
kept in the hospital for two days
even though there did not appear to
be anything wrong other than the
fact I had just dropped dead.
Blood tests revealed I was
hypokalemic (potassium deficient),
but proved there was no heart
attack. It was during this experience I
learned the difference between
heart attack and cardiac arrest, the
former (heart attack) stems from
arterial problems and heart disease,
whereas cardiac arrest indicates the
heart suddenly stops beating.
I did not have heart disease. I
suffered cardiac arrest where the
heart suddenly stops.
Continued on page 60
JASMINE'S PLACE
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