Hi! My name is Shannon Griggs, and I am a wife and mother-of-two living in the small town of Arab, Alabama.
On March 5, 2009, I was at home from work getting ready for my grandfather's funeral. Of course, I don't remember any of this or much of the month prior to this, so I rely on the recollections of my closest family and friends. Because of the occasion, my husband and daughters were also at home with me at the time which was uncharacteristic for a typical work/school day. I would have otherwise been at the middle school in our city school system where I work as the library media specialist.
According to my husband, I was walking through our master bedroom when I passed out. He called 911 thinking I must have oddly fainted, but he began to visually tell from my appearance and color that something was terribly wrong and began administering CPR. Ironically, our paramedics were on a traffic call very near our home and left the accicent scene to quickly attend to me. After 5 shocks, my heart was restored to somewhat of a rhythm, and I was taken to our nearby hospital where I was airlifted to Huntsville Hospital.
Although my odds of survival ranged from none to slim, I managed to pull through after posturing and no deep tendon reflexes. After induced hypothermia and other treatments, I regained consciousness and received an ICD in the event that I should experience future vfib events.
My first follow-up exam was 2 weeks upon returning home with my internal medicine doctor who is a teaching physician in Huntsville. She will coordinate treatments among my other doctors. I also had a follow-up exam with my cardiologist at the Heart Center in Huntsville, and the read-out from my ICD was good and his report positive. I haven't had my follow-up exam with my neurologist yet, though I do have a few minor issues to discuss.
I seem to have lost memory from the week and month prior to my event, but have regained some of it with the help of visual stimuli. Since I am a librarian, it is a given that I enjoy reading and writing, and I've noticed that I will insert an odd word into a sentence when I type or write. It seems to be improving, though it could be that I have become more aware and double-check everything I type. It has been interesting to read very similar experiences from others.
I returned to church at Guntersville First Presbyterian on Easter Sunday and just celebrated my 38th birthday on April 28, 2009.