The human body will always amaze me. Even though I don't do cardiac nursing anymore, I like to keep up on what's happening because I find it so interesting. Apparently they have found that hypothermia is a good thing in some instances. The current method Legacy is using to save a person's brain when they are in cardiac arrest is to drop their body temperature around 91 degrees. Now, on a summer day, the outside air feels warm at 91- but our bodies register a chilly feeling at 96 degrees- you would say you were "freezing" at anything below it. Because blood and body functions slow down at 91 degrees, it helps keep brain cells from dying and being damaged by low oxygen levels. Cardiac arrest has a mortality rate of 90%- even when it happens while you are hospitalized. For those who do survive- without cooling, the memory loss and motor function disabilities are life altering.
Amazing stuff, and God knows every beat of your heart- he doesn't have to check your EKG and measure QRST intervals. :)Boggles my mind!
Here is the complete article if you are interested, a Gresham man's heart stopped while playing basketball- and partly thanks to "chilling", he is still here to tell about it. Thank you, Father, for the gift of research and medicine.
http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2008/12/cardiac_arrest_patients_being.html
(The photo is just one of my favorites- of two of my FAVORITE people! Enjoy!)
1 comment:
hey Renee, your blog reminded me of a football player who suffered a life threatening spinal injury last year. One of the trainers had about experimental hypothermia treatment to limit swelling and inflamation, and gave the player a shot to reduce his body temp. this action has been credited with the player's remarkable recovery. here's a link to the story http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3317795
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