Welcome to Hjertelig takk (Hearty thanks), a website created to express my deep gratitude to all the people who helped me survive sudden cardiac arrest in 2016 and electrical storms in 2018 and 2019. My aim is to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, encourage lay people to seek CPR and AED training, process my experiences and share them with others, and find effective methods for recovery after cardiac arrest.
My Cardiac Arrest, 2016
My life changed in an instant on August 5, 2016. One minute I was sitting on the couch writing a Norwegian textbook, and the next I was lying face down on the floor, gray and unresponsive. Hearing a commotion in the living room, my wife ran into the room and into the terror of that moment, immediately opening the front door and calling 911. With coaching from the 911 dispatcher, she saved my life by giving me CPR for 9 minutes until the paramedics from Fire Station #5 in St. Paul arrived. They provided advanced life support by continuing CPR, administering medications, and giving me 5 shocks with an AED until my heart finally started beating again after 25 minutes. With sirens blaring, they sped to the University of Minnesota Medical Center where the medical staff took me directly to the cath lab for testing and then to the ICU, providing exceptional post-cardiac arrest care.
Chain of Survival
Because I received immediate care from everyone in my chain of survival – my wife, the paramedics from St. Paul, the doctors and nurses from the University of Minnesota – I am one of the 10% of people fortunate to survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. After two weeks in the hospital, I came home with an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator) in my chest, making a full recovery over the next few months with the help of my medical team, the Health Partners cardiac rehab team, family, and friends.
Causes of Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Cardiac arrests occur when an electrical malfunction causes an abnormal heart rhythm, most commonly because of genetic syndromes, structural issues with the heart, and coronary artery disease. However, I don’t have any of those conditions, so my arrest was idiopathic, meaning that the doctors cannot find a specific cause.
Electrical Storm, 2018
I wish I could say that this was the end of my cardiac arrest story, but of course it wasn’t and isn’t. A year and a half after my first cardiac arrest, I had another one that turned into a full-blown electrical storm, best described as multiple occurrences of ventricular tachycardia in a 24-hour period. For me, that meant that my heart went into VT about 50 times that night/day, followed by a shock from my ICD each time. After a 10-day hospital stay in Arizona, I went home, suffering from a severe case of ICU delirium that took over six months to shake. However, due to incredible support from family and friends as well as help from a therapist, I once again made a full recovery.
Electrical Storm, 2019
A year and half later, you guessed it, I had another electrical storm, going into VT over 40 times that night/day, followed by a shock from my ICD after each one. Ironically, we were in Seattle attending the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit conference, where I was scheduled to tell my story and introduce one of the speakers. After this second electrical storm, my trusty ICD, whom I had named Fiona, was out of battery, so I received a new ICD that could both pace my heart and provide defibrillation. Receiving name suggestions from friends and family on CaringBridge, we decided that the new ICD should be named Noelle since she arrived just before Christmas. After a week in the University of Washington Medical Center, we went to our winter home in San Diego where I recovered fully with support from family and friends as well as through participation in the Dean Ornish Intensive Cardiac Rehab program.
Single Episodes of VT, 2021 & 2022
Since then, my heart has been quieter. I had an episode of VT followed by one shock in October of 2021, and then another similar experience on the Fourth of July in 2022. With my history of electrical storm, it seemed like a miracle to have only one run of VT and one shock. I went to the hospital for a couple days after the first one, but the second time we just relaxed at home and watched some Netflix for a day before resuming normal life.
Recovery
My story is just one of many, and I’m lucky to be here to write about it since over 350,000 people die from cardiac arrests in the United States each year. I hope this site can help people learn about sudden cardiac arrest and encourage them to get CPR and AED training. Over 70% of cardiac arrests occur at home and the person needing help will likely be a family member or friend.
I hope this site can make other cardiac arrest survivors feel less alone. There are many of us now, and it is important for us to connect with one another and share our experiences. I especially recommend reading the survivor stories on the website of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, becoming part of the Cardiac Arrest Survivor Alliance (CASA), participating in the Facebook groups for Sudden Cardiac Survivors and Living with an ICD, listening to the podcasts from the Heart Warrior Project, and reading the SCA Survivor Guide.
Lastly, I hope this site can help all of us with our recovery. After my first three events, I recovered remarkably well, but to be honest I’m struggling a bit right now due to the multiple heart events, the pandemic, and the unknown that lies ahead. The chain of survival, which you can read more about on this site, has been updated recently to include recovery because there are so many more survivors now and we are living longer. Most of us are in various stages of adjusting to life after sudden cardiac arrest, which overflows with the joy of more time with our loved ones and often newly found purpose, but also carries the acceptance of limitations and the fear of future heart events. I hope to connect with others about all the ways we can improve our recovery, as well as for others who have experienced medical trauma.