I’m Living the Divine Comedy We Call Life—Thanks to ...I’m Living the Divine Comedy We Call...

On January 21, 1995 at aminute or so after 10 P.M., Idied. Though I’m known as afunny actress, this is no joke.I have proof: on the SeattleFire Department MedicalIncident Report, Question24—Patient Condition onArrival. Two answer options

are provided: (1) Alive, or (2) Dead. My report has abig circle around number two. So it’s official.

The evening began quite normally, or so I’ve beentold. I have no memory of the events of that night, ormost of that following week. We had just completed alive audience taping of our television show, AlmostLive! Standing among the other actors onstage, Imurmured, “I don’t feel too…,” then collapsed. Morethan a hundred people laughed. It was a comedysketch spoofing ER, after all! They didn’t know I wasexperiencing sudden cardiac arrest. They assumed itwas simply an actor’s pratfall. No one dreamed avibrant and healthy woman in her thirties wouldliterally drop dead in front of them.

Fellow cast members knew my nose-dive wasn’tplanned. Following the initial flurry of fear andconfusion, they propelled into action the Chain ofSurvival: a 9-1-1 call, CPR from a volunteer firefighterwho happened to be in the audience, a swift responsefrom EMS/Medic One, and ultimately, defibrillation.In the movies, the process of shocking a patient backto life is accomplished in about 30 seconds. In real life,it’s a bit longer. I lay on the studio floor, clinicallydead, for at least 15 minutes. At 10:19 P.M., after moreCPR, intravenous cardiac drugs, and six defibrillator

shocks from an automated external defibrillator(AED), they restored a viable heartbeat to me. I joinedthe elite club of those who “come back.”

Next came eight days of exceptional hospital andsurgical care. With the love and support of my family,friends and health care professionals, I was released,equipped with my own lifesaving equipment: animplantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), embeddedfirmly in my chest, monitoring every beat of myheart. Eight years later, I have a smaller, moretechnologically advanced ICD, programmed to deliver a lifesaving shock should I again experienceventricular fibrillation, one of the most fatal of allheart arrhythmias.

Viewing my sudden cardiac arrest in terms of myacting profession, I’d have to say that it was truly thebiggest “comeback” of my career! For many years Ihad known about my arrhythmic heart as I’d beeninitially diagnosed in 1982. I thought I was doingeverything I could to keep my risks down withmedication. Following my 1995 episode of ventricularfibrillation and recovery people often ask how I cope,facing a future with a life-threatening condition.

Much of what has changed is my appreciation of life’spriorities, the necessity to partner with my healthcare providers in my treatment and my responsibilityto honor my thoughts and feelings, not to squelchthem simply to avoid conflict or uncomfortablesituations. I believe stress induced adrenaline wasdefinitely a factor in my heart’s “short circuiting.”

Of course, humor has been a large part of my healing.It’s more than my job. It’s my legacy. Humor is afamily trait and is how I connect best, with shared

I’m Living the Divine Comedy We Call Life—Thanks to Defibrillationby Tracey Conway

laughter, smiles, irony, a well-placed self-deprecatingjoke. For me, it’s the shortcut to intimacy, warmthand safety. When people laugh they relax, and whenthey relax they listen. And once they are listening. . .BAM! You got ’em. And how perfect was it that Iliterally dropped dead on a comedy show in front of a packed house? What could be more ironic, moreridiculous, more of a scene-stealer than that!?

You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “I thought I’ddie laughing!” Well, that’s my goal, later, much later –there’s too much of the Divine Comedy we call life Ihaven’t chuckled my way through yet.

I died on January 21, 1995, but I’m very much alive andkicking and laughing today, thanks to an AED.

Note: AEDs are prescription devices. AED users should be trained in CPRand use of the AED. Although not everyone can be saved from suddencardiac arrest, studies show that survival rates can be dramaticallyimproved with early defibrillation.

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