A Wisconsin veteran who was declared clinically dead when he went into cardiac arrest, shocked his family and doctors when he woke up a day after being placed on a life support machine.
Sergeant First Class Jim Bittner was scheduled for a specialized surgery that would clean plaque out from his arteries and lungs, called PTE.
But the veteran, who has had an assortment of health woes, experienced some complications that prevented the surgery from taking place.
Sergeant First Class Jim Bittner was scheduled for a specialized surgery that would clean plaque out from his arteries and lungs, called PTE
‘I was having shortness of breath and I started coughing up blood,’ he explained to TMJ4.
Jim went to an ER in Mosinee but doctors knew he needed specific attention and he was flown to Froedtert Hospital.
There, the veteran went into cardiac arrest and doctors feared he would also experience some form of brain damage.
‘His heart did not beat just over three minutes. But it was 55 minutes that his lungs didn’t send adequate oxygen to his brain,’ added the man’s wife, Mary Bittner.
The veteran went into cardiac arrest while at Froedtert Hospital after experiencing medical complications. It was then that Dr. Lyle Joyce decided to put the man on life support
It was then that Dr. Lyle Joyce decided to put the man on life support.
‘I was in the operating room just down the hall and they called me to see if there was anything we could do,’ the doctor said.
‘This would at least give him a chance to say goodbye to his family. I think all of us who have lost loved ones, we always regret if he haven’t had a chance to say our goodbyes.’
Mary said that the moment was a low one for her.
She said: ‘I hit the wall. You go into denial, worst day of my life.’
But Mary’s dark heartbreak would soon be mended as Jim woke up the next day in a much better state than doctors could have ever expected.
His health motivated doctors to arrange another surgery.
Dr. Joyce was assisted in the surgery with his son, Dr. David Joyce
Jim Bittner spent just under 33 years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, something his doctors think helped contribute to his determination to get better
Dr. Joyce was assisted in the surgery with his son, Dr. David Joyce.
Weeks after the surgery, the veteran asserts that he has a busy holiday schedule that he was to prepare for with his wife.
He exclaimed: ‘I got too much stuff to do!’
Jim spent just under 33 years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, something his doctors think helped contribute to his determination to get better.
‘There is no question that his military service prepared him for the type of resilience that he needed to survive this situation,’ said Dr. David Joyce.
The veteran is back at home after being released from the hospital, a few weeks earlier than expected