This blog is about a lot of things.
I share stories, memories, recipes, projects, favorite plants, favorite quotes, fun shopping finds, and much more. This is my creative outlet and a project I am passionate about.
While this post might seem “off topic”, I think it fits. So here goes…
A Shocking Experience and Pavlov’s Dog
I now know what it feels like to have your heart shocked from the inside of your body, and I can honestly say it’s not an experience I hope to ever have again – or wish on anyone else. I can also say I completely understand the theory behind Ivan Pavlov’s research and the Pavlovian condition. It’s real. Trust me.
Some Background
A quick bit of background… in April of this year I experienced cardiac arrest (which is not the same as a heart attack). Out of the blue, my heart stopped. It was out of commission for 47 minutes. Forty. Seven. Minutes.
Thankfully I happened to be in an ICU when it occurred, and had a cardiac team close by who worked to revive me. After 30 minutes or so, they were able to bring me “back to life” and get my heart working again. I coded again for another 10 minutes, but that cardiac team worked – again – to bring me back.
I was a “chill patient”. Sounds cool, eh? If you Google that, you’ll see that I was put into a hypothermic state during those 47 minutes (and for the next two days) to help preserve my organs and brain while my heart was taking a vacation.
I got to ride in a helicopter from the countryside to one of the best heart hospitals in the country. Of course, I don’t remember that helicopter ride. Or the week that followed. But my husband, kids, and family do. It was a rough week on all of them, while I was in an induced coma – again to try to salvage my brain and bodily organs while my heart recovered.
After a week of being “out of it”, I came back. The doctors (and my family) had no idea at this point if I had brain damage or not. If I’d be “myself” again, or if the 47+ minutes of basically being “dead” caused too much damage for me to ever be me again. Well, I showed them!
For the next week in the hospital, I was constantly monitored, tested, and evaluated for my cognitive abilities. The doctors called me “a miracle”. They were astounded that I was able to come back with NO cognitive problems. I was myself and was getting stronger and stronger each day. The doctors were surprised that I recovered within weeks versus the typical months to a year for most people. What can I say?! I was DETERMINED. I have way too many things to accomplish yet in my life to let a 47 minute “death” stop me!
While I was in the hospital, I had an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) implanted in my chest. It was put there to help monitor the lower chambers of my heart (the ventricles) from going into a dangerous rhythm that could cause another cardiac arrest.
The Shocking Experience
Last week, I woke up and was feeling quite tired. You should wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the world, right? Well, not that day. I didn’t know why I felt like that, but I knew I wanted to shower, get dressed, and start my day as soon as possible.
While I was turning off the water after finishing my shower, I saw a bright flash of light and heard a loud BOOM! I literally screamed. The first thought that ran through my head was that I had been electrocuted by the water caused by a lightning strike. Yeah. I know. I have an active imagination. But you know the old wives tale, right? The one that says you could get electrocuted through water in the shower when lightning strikes your house? Surely you’ve heard that. Well, that was literally the first thing I thought of. I quickly shut the water off and grabbed a towel while thinking to myself “what the heck just happened?!?!?!?!?”. I was shaking from being startled. It finally occurred to me what just happened was my ICD had activated and shocked my heart! I called my husband, who was on his hour-long trip to work, and asked him to come back home. I dried off, got dressed, and called my cardiologist. The ICD I have is able to transmit data to the doctor from the comfort of my home. I sent my data, and sure enough – I had been shocked. Holy cats! This was one heck of an experience, let me tell you!
The doctor analyzed my ICD data, and said I was shocked because the lower part of my heart wasn’t keeping up with the top part of my heart, which was beating at 270 beats per minute (this is NOT a normal heartbeat).
I have to say, after the shock, I instantly didn’t feel tired. I was pretty jacked up on adrenaline! The shock I received did it’s job and put my heart back in sync. Technology. Pretty darn amazing.
Pavlov’s Dog
Shortly after this shocking experience, I experienced the next interesting thing – the Pavlovian conditioning experience.
In case you aren’t familiar, Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist in the 1890s. He was researching salivation in dogs in response to them being fed. In a nutshell, he predicted that dogs would salivate in response to food being placed in front of them. But as part of his research, he noticed the dogs started salivating when they heard footsteps of someone coming to bring them their food. Eventually, through the experiments, these dogs were conditioned to salivate upon hearing a bell in anticipation of being fed. This experiment showed that learning to associate an unconditioned stimulus brings a certain natural response.
The day following my heart shocking experience, I again stepped into our bathroom to take a shower. I was actually nervous to turn on the water and step in. My first thought was Pavlov’s dog experiment. The shock I received the previous day caused me to expect another shock as soon as I stepped into the running shower. Having studied psychology in college, I knew what was happening. Yet…. stepping into that shower was tough. I think my shower that day was probably one of the quickest I’ve ever taken!
It’s been a week now since this shocking incident happened. I still have a little apprehension when stepping into the shower, but I realize the reasoning behind this feeling, and I’m sure I will move on and be able to take a shower without worries. But I can say, I was really amazed at the power of suggestion, and how one experience can set the stage for future experiences. Pavlov was right. And it’s really a powerful thing to experience. While I never want to experience that again, I can now say that I have experienced the famous Pavlov’s Dog conditioning. As a science geek, I guess that’s kind of cool.
Moving On
Since April, I originally started out with my heart being in atrial flutter 35% of the time. That dropped to 5% of the time in July, and now in November it’s only 3.8% of the time. I’m determined to keep up this trend and hopefully I’ll never have to experience another shock, unplanned helicopter ride, or Pavlov’s dog experiment.
I’m done with science experiments for the year!
