Saved by CPR -- what is it like?

[RealityChuck]

I’m writing a scene where a character goes into cardiac arrest and CPR is applied. It works and he starts breathing again. What sort of reaction would he have? Would he cough (I understand vomiting is possible, but I want to avoid that aspect)? How would he feel, and how long before he could start going about his business relatively normally?

[Nametag]

It’s like waking up in a hospital. CPR rarely results in survival, and when it does, it’s because it kept half-assed circulation going long enough that the brain didn’t die from hypoxia before paramedics could get there. The patient wakes up in a hospital with IV lines, an airway, other tubes, and usually has broken ribs. He feels like crap. How soon, if ever, he’ll be up and around depends on how much of his brain, heart and other organs died.

Two quotes from Wikipedia:

A study of survival rates from out of hospital cardiac arrest found that 14.6% of those who had received resuscitation by ambulance staff survived as far as admission to hospital. Of these, 59% died during admission, half of these within the first 24 hours, while 46% survived until discharge from hospital. This gives us an overall survival following cardiac arrest of 6.8%. Of these 89% had normal brain function or mild neurological disability, 8.5% had moderate impairment, and 2% suffered major neurological disability. Of those who were discharged from hospital, 70% were still alive 4 years later.

A review into prognosis following in-hospital cardiac arrest found a survival to discharge of 14% although the range between different studies was 0-28%.

The treatment for cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to provide circulatory support, followed by defibrillation if a shockable rhythm is present. If a shockable rhythm is not present after CPR and other interventions, clinical death is inevitable.

[Hilarity_N.Suze]

A very good friend of mine was resuscitated by CPR. She was in the hospital for a week and a half, in a coma for two days of that and in ICU until the very last day. During the CPR a rib and something else was broken, and she couldn’t take a deep breath or laugh without pain for a couple of months. She had to take it very easy because of the broken bones.

She doesn’t remember anything between going to bed the night before and waking up in the ICU two days later. She also doesn’t remember several of her friends visiting her during her hospitalization.

She made a full recovery, and if not for the CPR and the fact that she managed to get out of her apartment before collapsing (which she doesn’t remember but, obviously, it happened), she wouldn’t be alive.