The day my dad died

[shekhar_kapoor]

My dad expired from probable ventricular fibrillation on 15th Jan 2011 at 11:10 AM while driving a scooter.He locked the doors and about 20 ft away from our house ,while negotiating a turn he just fell on the ground.People from all walks of life rushed and took him to the hospital, but it didnt help.The only thing i could see was his teeth clenched, dilated pupils and tears in his eyes.

I had forced him to get his cholesterol levels checked and according to the docotr they were normal.He didnt have any symptom of heart disease and used to go for brisk walk since 1980s ( 8 kms daily).

We had reduced our intake of red meat, butter and other fats and our family doctor is still at loss of words to explain this.

What exactly happened to him ? Has anyone had any similar experiences ?

[ed34]

"But how come he didn't show any symptoms of angina ?"
Not everyone has symptoms of angina. A blockage which is 60% for example could erupt causing a blockage while a secondary blockage would arise in the form of a thrombus.

"if someone had performed CPR at the right moment,he would have survived"
Not necessarily, CPR doesn't save everyone. I know what you are going through, I lost my Mother 6 years ago. She was in ER with several Doctors trying to establish what was wrong with her and they ruled out cardiac problems. Later that evening her heart stopped and after several attempts at restarting it, they finally gave in. Post mortem revealed severe artery disease. I kicked myself for a long time, for not demanding an angiogram but have realised we have to let go. Like you say, our experiences can hopefully be beneficial to others.

[shekhar_kapoor]

Yes, unfortunately we were not there at the moment.I saw the symptoms post the fatal incident.But how come he didn't show any symptoms of angina ? Only thing which comes to my mind - if someone had performed CPR at the right moment,he would have survived.I have seen people who smoke/drink alot and survive multiple heart attacks.

But maybe if it would have happened infront of me, i might have panicked and lost it as well.

There are times when i think about knowledge he used to share about warning signs of heart disease and irony of the incident.

I found a hot water bottle with muscle relaxant applied all over it on his bedside, maybe he thought he had muscle sprain.

These are incidents which makes me think about how much little knowledge about boundary between life and death.

How beautiful it would be, if i could rewind the life 2 months back.

[ed34]

I'm very sorry to hear about your Father :(
The most common cause of v-fib is lack of blood flow to the coronary muscle, i.e. blockages in the coronary arteries. Did they perform at autopsy to determine exactly what happened?
There are other causes of v-fib, one such example is a very low level or Potassium.
During v-fib, the blood isn't pumped around the body and unconsciousness occurs within seconds, and if the condition isn't stopped in about 5 minutes, seizures and irreversible brain damage occurs. A small comfort I know, but he wouldn't have suffered. Within around 5 seconds he would have been unaware of what was going on.
Even people who run several miles a day can have artery disease but be unaware of it. Some of the disease can rupture, sending lots of soft plaque through the coronary arteries and blocking them. It's a disease which is quite nasty in the way it can hide in the background and then suddenly cause heart attacks, strokes or even death. Those of us with the disease (who are aware of its existence), have to learn to deal with that fear.