Have you ever gotten your heart shocked? Seven times. In a row.
The robust male patient told me how it floored him in his barn. Seven times his heart went into an arrhythmia incompatible with life; the sudden decrease in blood flow to his brain dropping him like a rag doll. Seven times his defibrillator jolted it back.
I have to admit I thought it sounded kind of funny at first, like that recurring joke in the Benjamin Button movie. Then he described it.
“Dr. Lies, is that how you –”
“It’s Li1es, like miles, but don’t worry about it,” I corrected.
“Well, it felt like an 8 by 4 by 4 hitting me in the chest. Each time harder than the last,” he shook.
“Don’t touch me!” he had yelled at his wife, afraid she might become electrocuted through him.
“I’m 230 pounds, nothing’s ever brought me down like that. I can’t believe a heart could take that much pain. I can’t sleep at night.”
“Because you’re afraid of getting shocked again.”
The big man nodded fearfully.
Some people have a sense of survivor guilt after these events – a feeling that they should be dead now. In his case, he was more afraid of the pain that brought him back to life. The way he talked, it sounded like he’d rather just die next time.
Later, the nurse pointed out a transient abnormality on his EKG during his sleep.
“Is this concerning?” I ask Dr. Clockheart, the oldest of the old school cardiologists.
“Who is he again?”
“The guy who got shocked. Seven times.”
“Oh right. Sure it’s concerning. But he’s on the meds and he’s got the AICD. If it’s bad, it’ll go off again. Nothing we can do about it. Tell him that.”
I don’t.
Maybe I am Dr. Lies after all.
