Cardiac arrest in a school
You woke up early. Tired since you couldn´t sleep well last night. Or well. You haven´t been able to sleep well for months by now. Too much work, too much stress.
You prepared to go to work, you are a college teacher. You teach political science. So there you were, well dressed, very elegant. You looked at your reflection in the mirror to comb your hair, there you saw how unhealthy you looked. Baggy eyes, pale skin, and also the suit you were wearing seemed too big for you, you have lost a lot of weight recently. Since being a teacher isn´t your only work, you have been living on base of unhealthy amounts of coffee and energetic drinks.
You tried to compose yourself, you needed to work. So you took a deep breath which caused a sharp pain to explode in your chest. So took short breaths as you clutched your chest, you couldn't miss work. You took a energetic drink from the fridge thinking you were just tired and just needed some caffeine to be productive again.
So you went to work, once in the college you regretted coming. Maybe you should go to see a doctor and hopefully you could justify missing to work today. Your chest felt like burning, the pain was still there. You were struggling to breath well.
You walked to the teacher´s room and you sat in a chair for a second, just to try to catch your breath. There you were, breathing laboured as you clutched your chest. You could feel your heart beating wrong, something was off. Your heart hammering inside your chest, jumping, skipping while beating wildly.
You heard the door of the room opening. A friend of yours came in with two cups of coffee.
"Hey! I brought a coffee for you. Seems like today will be a hard day".
Your friend said joyfully but soon stopped as he watched you struggling and trembling while clutching your chest.
"Hey, hey. Are you okay? What's wrong?"
He asked you worried. Placing a hand over your shoulder.
"I'm okay- just- need a second"
You answered with difficulty. But you weren't alright, your heart was beginning to fail. Too stressed from abuse of caffeine, lack of food, lack of rest, excess cortisol.
"You are definitely not okay. Here, take a deep breath, let me call the nurse."
But before he could do something else. You collapsed, falling to the floor. Body shaking, face blue from lack of air, lungs unable to breathe, your heart convulsing unable to beat properly.
Your friend ran to your side, trying to check your pulse just to realize how wrong your heart was beating.
"Hey, pal. Resist, you'll be okay. I'll be here right next to you. Please, don't let your heart stop."
He pushed the emergency button every room had. In the moment he turned again to see you, you have lost consciousness. He ran to your side, realizing your heart have just stopped beating. You have just falle to a cardiac arrest.
He immediatly began giving compressions to your chest, trying to reanimate your still heart.
He continued giving you CPR, doing the work your heart should do on it's own. Soon the nurse came with a desfribillator. Soon the nurse with help of your friend were trying to make your heart beat again.
Shocking your heart, making it jump and convulse from the electricity. Just to fall still again. Your heart too tired to beat again, too strained from so much abuse. You should have taken better care of your heart.
Your body jumped and spasmed from the defribillator. But after minutes of effort, a faint weak beat made all stop for a second. One beat, two. Your pulse was weak and irregular, but your heart was beating again.