Shock shock shock

Day 53.

I had my first shock from my ICD on Thursday, 21 July 2022. I don’t remember feeling any differently that morning to any of the other mornings before.

Did I know it was going to happen?

What did the ICD shock feel like?

Shock 1

I made some coffee for the husband, and put it on a tray. I started down the stairs with my load and felt very light headed all of a sudden. I put the tray down on a step as I started to sit down.

Next thing I know, I was waking up at the bottom of the stairs. The husband and the son was next to me. I had some serious bumps on my head, and a bit of muscle tenderness on my back. Nothing felt like it was spinal. I sat there for a bit evaluating my condition.

The husband suggested that perhaps I had been shocked by the ICD. I hadn't even considered it. I had just assumed that I had had low blood pressure or something.

The husband also told me that my foot had gotten caught in the stair railings, but that he freed it. And that I made a lovely grunting noise like someone getting knocked out during a boxing match.

The advice from the ICD technical team was to evaluate my condition when I received a shock before deciding to head into the emergency department at the hospital. In general, only go in if you feel unwell.

Slowly I got up and went back upstairs. I decided to have some breakfast and my pills for the day.

Shock 2

Within 30 minutes of the first shock, the second one happened.

I was sitting on the floor in the sitting room playing Lego with the boy. I felt the same sudden dizziness and decided to lie down on the floor. By the time I told the husband that I was feeling bad, I felt myself waking up from losing consciousness.

The husband was by now holding the boy, who was crying. The husband confirmed that I was definitely shocked this time.

Shock 3

The husband suggested very logically that I should now go and lie on the bed in the bedroom. No more acting like things are normal. We were discussing what we should do.

I very quickly felt dizzy again after lying down on my bed. I again felt myself waking up after what I thought was me saying “it is happening again” mid-sentence. The third shock happened within 10 minutes of the previous.

The husband made the call to the ambulance.

Another ambulance trip

The friendly team from St John’s Free Ambulance arrived and this time I walked out with them. They did support me with one person in front and one behind down the driveway of doom.

Triaged at the hospital

The consensus was the shocks were from ventricular fibrillation. My ICD is set to shock me out of VFib if my heart beat reaches 220 beats per minute.

At the hospital I also tested positive for Covid-19, which delayed me being admitted to the ward by about 6 hours.