Cardiac arrest. Crying for answers.. Please help

[jo]

Yesterday was the worst day of my life and I am not sure if I could ever recover from that. My mom had a very successful dialysis session yesterday where they pulled 3.6L off of her in a 4 hour treatment. The treatment was done and while the nurse was flushing her lines back after the treatment, all my mom told us was that she has a chest pain and passed out. She didn't have a pulse for about 4-6 minutes until the CPR team came and got her pulse back and took her to the ICU. She has been on the ventilator since then and the doctors are trying to figure out what could have caused the arrest. They are saying they couldn't detect any damage in the heart or brain so far. What else could have caused the cardiac arrest? For the past 2 weeks including yesterday, she has been having treatments at the hospitals as she has been treated for 2 different staph bloodstream infections as well. Also, her treatments were not the same as her regular schedule and she has been dialyzed for about 5 days in a week in the hospital. Could this contribute to an arrest due to the frequent electrolyte shifts? They want to dialyze her again tomorrow and we are very stressed out again if the cardiac arrest event will happen tomorrow as the cause of the arrest hasn't been determined so far. I cannot see my mom suffering in the ventilator. Please let me know if anyone had similar experiences and what are the possible causes of cardiac arrest. Thank you.

[Michael Murphy]

I have just been through a series of cardiac events. Early in November I had a heart attack, had two stents placed and I was released.  Now my ejection fraction was down to 20%, normal is 58% ( ejection fraction is the percentage of blood pumped out a ventricular ). What I was in was Congestive Heart Failure.
But the answer to your question occurred next after dialysis I walked out to my car and all of a sudden I stopped breathing.  In about 2 minutes I started breathing again I went to the emergency room,  I finally had a episode when I was on a heart monitor it turned out I was in ventricular tachycardia and arterial fibulation.  The doctor explained even though I had reverted back to normal each time there was a chance while I was in v-tach I could suffer complete heart failure.  After a 7.5 hour operation it appears I am recovering. My ejection fraction is up to 38% and I start Cardiac Rehab next week.

[PrimeTimer]

Sorry to hear this, jo! Hope they find out why it happened so that your mother will do better. My mother had 2 "silent" heart attacks and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Once the cardiologist put her on the right meds, she did very very well. She was real tiny and petite, very healthy and didn't even have clogged arteries and was very energetic but one side of her heart was enlarged. They never knew why other than they thought perhaps it was damaged by a low grade fever from an infection some time during her life. But once she was on the right meds, she was given a second chance at life. I wish you and your mother well.

[jo]

Thanks to both of you for sharing. Prayers to all including my mom. Please pray for my mom.

[PrimeTimer]

Thanks to both of you for sharing. Prayers to all including my mom. Please pray for my mom.

I will say a special prayer for your mom and one for you too. I will pray for strength, love and courage and for the good Lord to walk with you and help hold you up during this trying time. 

[LorinnPKD]

jo, I don't have any answers but you and your mom are in my thoughts. Wishing you peace.

[kristina]

Hello jo,
Unfortunately I don't have any answers either
but I send my best wishes to you and your mom
from Kristina

[Charlie B53]

Many of us are simply ticking time bombs.  Living our lives with undiagnosed problems, until a major event such as your Mother has just had.

Trust she is in the right place.  The Dr's will be watching and testing carefully to decide the best course of treatment.

Prays continuing for your Mother.

[smartcookie]

Even without heart issues, dialysis can stress the heart.  I don't know what happened with your mom, but you are in my prayers. 

[jo]

I am thankful to all of you for the prayers. We do not have any family members with her right now besides me and my dad, but glad to know that there are people here thinking about her and praying for her. It made me really happy to read all of your prayers. Thank you.