Cardiologist saves man experiencing heart attack symptoms mid-flight
Oklahoma cardiologist Dr. TJ Trad was fast asleep on his flight from Uganda last month when a member of his team woke him up to say someone needed a doctor.
Trad rushed over to the passenger who needed help to find a man drenched with sweat and complaining of chest pain. The man looked at the doctor and anxiously asked, 맥스카지노am I going to die?맥스카지노
맥스카지노Not today,맥스카지노 Trad told the man.
He believed that the man in front of him was having a heart attack 맥스카지노 pain the doctor was intimately familiar with after surviving one just last year.
Trad also knew he had the tools that might help save the man맥스카지노s life if it was a heart attack: medication and medical devices he had on him because he was flying home from a medical mission trip in Uganda with Cura for the World 맥스카지노 an organization he founded that builds clinics in areas of need.
He also had a pocket-sized electrocardiogram, or ECG 맥스카지노 something he never leaves home without after his own heart attack. The device, about the size of a credit card, would be a crucial tool in understanding the man맥스카지노s symptoms.
Now he just had to get to work.
A makeshift emergency room
It was three hours into the April 29 KLM flight to Amsterdam when Trad was thrust into emergency response mode.
The patient said that on a scale of one to 10, his chest pain was at a 10.
맥스카지노Do we land right now?맥스카지노 Trad recalled the man맥스카지노s wife nervously asking.
Trad realized the first step was to calm down the Dutch couple, nearby passengers and flight crew.
맥스카지노I think our training is so extensive that you almost get trained to be the captain of the ship and to calm everyone around you,맥스카지노 he said.
Trad then created a makeshift emergency room across a row of airplane seats, laid the man down with airplane pillows and propped his feet up to bring blood back to his heart.
After ruling out blood sugar and blood clot complications, the doctor used a 12-lead ECG from the medical mission trip to assess whether the man was having a heart attack. He quickly gave him five medications typically used to treat heart attacks.
Trad then used his personal ECG 맥스카지노 an electrocardiogram that measures the heart맥스카지노s electrical activity 맥스카지노 to help monitor the man맥스카지노s heart for abnormal beats, or arrhythmias. Trad has kept the device, a KardiaMobile card, in his wallet ever since his heart attack last year in case he has another cardiac event.
맥스카지노The later manifestation of a heart attack is an arrhythmia. That맥스카지노s how people die,맥스카지노 Trad explained.
Although the 12-lead ECG was crucial to confirm the man was showing symptoms of a heart attack, the doctor said the card allowed him to continually monitor for arrhythmias in the three hours that followed.
The man put his thumbs on the card, and it transmitted data on his heart activity to Trad맥스카지노s app via Bluetooth.
Within 45 minutes after he took the medication, the man맥스카지노s chest pain and heart rate started to get better, the doctor said.
Right place at the right time
Trad맥스카지노s own heart attack had prevented him from going on his medical mission trip to Uganda in February 2024, leading him to go on a make-up trip that put him on the same plane as the man he helped save.
The doctor said his heart attack led to him being in the right place at the right time.
맥스카지노I believe everything happens for a reason, I truly do,맥스카지노 he said.
During the ordeal, the pilot asked if they should divert the flight to Tunisia after speaking with the KLM on-ground physician, but Trad assured the crew that the patient was stable enough to make it to Amsterdam.
맥스카지노We had a nurse that was taking his vitals every 10 to 15 minutes맥스카지노 and we had him hooked up to all these things맥스카지노 if we would have landed in Tunisia, they wouldn맥스카지노t have done anything differently other than obviously taking him to get a heart cath,맥스카지노 Trad said, referring to the catheterization procedure that allows doctors to examine or treat the heart and coronary arteries.
The man was stable throughout the remaining two hours of the flight. His chest pain returned as the plane was about to land, but additional medication resolved it, Trad said.
The man맥스카지노s wife told CNN that Trad and a nurse helped prevent her husband맥스카지노s condition from getting worse and did an 맥스카지노unforgettable job.맥스카지노
Once they landed, the man thanked the doctor and his wife hugged him 맥스카지노very, very tight.맥스카지노
맥스카지노She said that you맥스카지노re our angel in the sky,맥스카지노 Trad recalled.
KLM told CNN the plane landed safely at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, where an ambulance was waiting to take the man to a nearby hospital.
The man맥스카지노s wife said he is doing reasonably well considering the traumatic event. The hospital examined him for 12 hours and did not diagnose him with a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism, she told CNN.
Trad believes this could be because of his timely treatment of the patient.
After having to cancel his Uganda trip last year because of his own heart attack, Trad said that helping save this man feels like a full circle moment for him.
He told the man it was a pleasure taking care of him and wished him the best before he ran to catch his connecting flight home.