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There was no autopsy although I did get a call from the medical examiner bright and early the morning following his death. I wish there had been an autopsy but I am sure it would just tell me what I know in my heart-that his heart was just tired and weak and could not function any longer. I just went to the nurse practitioner myself and he prescribed Paxil and Vistaril for me since I am having trouble with anxiety and sleeping.

Thanks everyone for all your kind words and prayers. Just an update for everyone---my husband was an organ donor and I was contacted shortly after arriving back home from the hospital after his death by LifeLink of Fl. They said they could still use his corneas and skin tissue and bone tissue, so this made me feel really like one positive thing came out of this! Because of his health, I didn't think any donation would be possible. My sons and I will be getting some counseling through Hospice starting next week. I will also be able to return to nursing school Monday the 26th although childcare may be an issue at times. My instructor is bending over backwards to keep me in school- she's a super lady! Again thanks for all the prayers and support! Pam

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers-I really do appreciate all your kind words. I really just needed reassurance I guess from those of you that are "in the know" about the way things happened. I just keep replaying the whole thing over and over in my head and it was just a totally normal day with no warning whatsoever and no time for any last words to say to each other. Another thing I had thought at first when it happened that it could have been extremely low blood sugar but I checked his meter and his sugar was 139 just prior to this, so I really believe in my heart that it had to have been a heart attack. I have lost my best friend in the world!

Hi, First of all, let me say I am a 39 year old nursing student and on Sunday, March 11, my husband died. This may be a long post so please bear with me. You see, I have been beating myself up over everything that happened and if there was anything else I could possibly have done to save him. My husband was 54 years old, had already had two heart attacks and two different bypass surgeries, was a type 2 diabetic on three different kinds of insulin, and numerous other types of medications. He had been awake for a couple of hours and I think he took some meds and possibly his first insulin injection but I don't really know for sure. He was not complaining about any chest pain or anything else. He went and sat down in his favorite recliner and I was talking to him from the kitchen not out of eyesight because the rooms are open-type setup. He didn't answer me so I looked over at him and he had thrown his head back against the chair and his arms had stiffened at his side. I ran over to him and it was as if he was gasping for air; his pulse was irregular and very bradycardic so I called 911 and was performing CPR simultaneously. Several times after I gave rescue breaths, it seemed as if he was almost gasping. I did everything I was told to do by the 911 operator and paramedics were here within 5 minutes. I had 5 paramedics working on him and when they hooked up the monitor I kept hearing them say "asystole". Does this mean that he never had any heart rythm? PLEASE tell me there is nothing else I could have done for him. The truly sad part is that my 5 year old and 14 year old sons were witness to the whole ordeal. I will appreciate any replies. Pam

Postmortem Cowboy, Thank you so much for all the good advice! That is the reason most of us (PN/VN students) love reading and posting on this site. The things you and others share with us are things we would never learn in a book, so once again, thank you!

That's scary-most of us HAVE to work or we would not be doing this! What state are you in?

Well said, I don't think anyone could have said it better or in a nicer way!

That was a very beautiful post and brought a tear to my eyes. Thank you Stephen for such a beautiful post!

I just finished my first week of school! It can be a bit overwhelming; we do about 4 chapters a day in various books and have a test on that material the next day. We will have one or two tests every day. I believe we have a very good instructor, she doesn't take herself too seriously, there's alot of participation from the class, she reviews every day before we take our tests, etc.. I was pleasantly surprised on the first day of school to walk in and find that the whole class is about the same age as me! Most of us are in our 30's; a couple of 50 year olds and one 19 year old. The gender breakdown is seven females and five males which I think it's great that so many guys are in class! We start our clinicals in early March, and the majority of them are in two different hospitals which I find is ironic since most hospitals won't hire LPN's anymore!

WOW-You ladies are all awesome and my hats off to you!:bowingpur

i guess what i'm most nervous about are the clinicals because i've never even been in healthcare before. also, i am giving up my job of 19 years to go to school and that makes me nervous as well. as far as the uniforms, i don't have a clue because i was called for class at the last minute and they had orientation way back in december. i have tried to reach my instructor and keep getting her voicemail and no call back! i do hope there is a good reason for that:uhoh3:

I thought i was out of my mind for going to a school so far away-my drive time is about 50-55 minutes each way to the school I will be attending at the end of the month! I'm so glad someone started this thread!

Good luck to you! I start school the 29th of this month and I am getting nervous!!!!!!!!

Hi, I'm from Spring Hill, and I start the LPN program at Withlacoochee Tech in Inverness on January 29th!