T
amara “Tami” Mikush
inTervenTional cardiologisT James w. marcucci, m.d., remembers Tami crying ouT, “please don’T leT me die,” JusT as she began To lapse in and ouT of consciousness.
(pronounced Mick-ish) remembers that fateful Friday night in late October 2012 like it was yesterday.
But only the first part of the night. Because later that night … she was
clinically dead. For 45 minutes. “I was getting ready for bed around 11 p.m. As soon as I got into bed, I felt something was wrong; something wasn’t
As she was being transferred from the
shock to her heart did not restore it to its
right. It was almost like a panic attack. I felt
ambulance stretcher to a bed in the ER, Tami
natural rhythm.
sweaty and I could feel my heart beating.”
says, “My heart stopped.”
Tami, 53, says she got out of bed and
Her doctors told her later that her heart
Dr. Marcucci and Cath Lab staff declared a Code Blue and immediately began Cardio
sipped on a glass of water in an attempt to
had stopped its normal rhythm and instead
Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to manually
calm herself down. When that failed, she
was in “ventricular fibrillation” (V-fib) in
provide oxygen to the heart, brain and other
woke her husband. “I think we need to call
which it was quivering and no longer sending
vital organs until normal heart and pulmonary
an ambulance,” she told him.
oxygen-rich blood to her heart, brain and
function could be restored.
Seconds later, she felt her left arm
other vital organs. ER staff quickly used an electrical
go numb. Paramedics arrived and told her she was having a heart attack. The ambulance crew rushed her to the Emergency Room (ER) at St. Clair Hospital.
“
The docTors and The enTire sTaff aT The hospiTal were wonderful To me and my family. i feel blessed for everyThing each and every one of Them did in making sure i had a greaT recovery.
”
TAMI MIKUSH
device known as a defibrillator to restore her trembling heart to its normal rhythm. They then transported Tami to the
Within seconds, some 10 to 12 people were in the room, all part of St. Clair Hospital’s CPR team. In between chest compressions, the team shocked Tami’s heart. Again and again.
adjoining Catheterization Lab where
They worked feverishly on Tami for
Interventional Cardiologist James W.
more than 20 minutes, alternating between
Marcucci, M.D., was preparing to insert
electrical shocks and CPR. Still, her heart
a thin wire through her femoral artery
would not return to a normal rhythm.
into her heart to clear the suspected blockage that caused the heart attack and the V-fib. “When I got to the Cath Lab, apparently
Dr. Marcucci was bound and determined to not let Tami die, so he and the staff continued CPR and shocking her heart for another 25 minutes. They also administered
my heart stopped again,” Tami relates in a
intravenous amiodarone and lidocane, both
calm, strong voice while relaxing in the living
powerful anti-rhythm drugs, and vasopressin,
room of her South Park home. Dr. Marcucci remembers Tami crying out, “Please don’t let me die,” just as she began to lose consciousness. As in the ER, Tami’s heart had gone into V-fib. But unlike the first time, an electrical
which stimulates contraction of muscles of capillaries and arteries. It was the 25th shock, and what was probably going to be the final shock that Tami would receive, that restarted her heart and returned it to a normal rhythm. Continued on page 12
Volume V Issue 2 I HouseCall I 11