As Life and death events are reported on the news, I am sure you are like me and wonder how we would act, if confronted with similar circumstances. Five days ago I was tested.It was a hot and humid night on that last day in July 2009. We had the usual evening. There was absolutely no indication of what was about to take place. It was around ten o’clock at night. My Mother-in-law stuck her head through the doorway to the side of the house where my wife and I live. She called out to me and said she was ready to go to bed. My Mother-in-law is eighty six years old and walks with a manual walker. So, I help her at bed time, to climb into bed and get snug as a bug in a rug. This night was no different than any other. We were talking and laughing about things. When she sat on the bed, she swung herself around and I lifted her legs up onto the same place in the bed I have done hundreds of times before. She said goodnight to me as I did to her. But, in the middle of her laugh, an eerie silence occurred. I looked at her face and saw the color drain. Her head fell to the side and her eyes rolled up inside her head. I immediately shook her twice. When I did not get a response I picked up the phone next to the bed and dialed 911. As the phone rang I checked for a pulse and respiration. As the operator answered I found none of each. I relayed this information to the 911 Operator and requested EMS help. Then, I told him I had to hang up, to call my wife on the other side of the house, to get her to come and help me. Before I hung up the phone from talking to my wife she came bursting thru the door between our living areas and I gave her instructions to meet the EMS outside and bring them in. She was off in a flash. As I stared down at the lifeless body lying before me I saw something in her mouth. I quickly realized it was Vomit and I grabbed my mother-in-law into my arms and turned her head to the side. I did not want her to aspirate the vomit so I kept sweeping her mouth with my fingers to clear an air way. For some reason an anger built inside of me and I shouted to no one in particular “No, goddamit. Not on my watch”. I knew I could not lay her down because of the threat of more vomiting so; I held her in my arms and placed my left hand on her back. I then placed my right hand at the base of the rib cage and began CPR. This maneuver is for newborns and I am not sure if it really made a difference but, at least I felt like I was doing something. As the seconds ticked away it seemed like hours. I could hear sirens in the distance and eventually my wife’s voice getting louder as she was telling the EMT Technicians her mother’s medical history. When the EMT’s came into the room they sprang into action. I continued the CPR while they hooked up their equipment. Then when they were ready, one of them placed their hand underneath mine and as I felt her taking over the compressions I moved to the side and swung myself out of the way. Soon, the EMT’s had my mother-in-law on a gurney and whisked her to the ambulance. She was on her way to the Hospital in a flash. When everyone was gone I collapsed into a chair exhausted. After a minute or two I called my brother-in-law Jack and told him what happened. He immediately went to the Hospital.
In all of the confusion I had completely forgotten the “No Resuscitate Order” that my mother-in-law had on her refrigerator. A few days later I asked my sister-in-law Kathy if the family could revisit that. I told her there is no way I could have done nothing. I could not live with myself if I had just stood there and did nothing.
As I write this my mother-in-law is recovering and asking when she can return home. She has one or two more hurdles to reach then, she can return. Normalcy has returned here at home. I have gone to work, cut the lawn, and trim the hedges and blogged. We are just waiting for the matriarch of our family to return home. As we wait I am saying a little prayer of thanks to the man upstairs. I thank him for his help and that what could have been never did.
That’s How I See It.
Special Thanks;
In Fitchburg, Massachusetts:
Fitchburg 911 Call Center
Fitchburg Fire Department
Fitchburg EMS
Leominster Hospital
UMASS Medical Center Worcester, Massachusetts
If it was not for these heroes doing what they do, we would be a family in mourning.
THANK YOU, Bob. Had YOU not been there, we would be a family in mourning. We don't say it nearly as much as we should, but we don't know what we would do without you. Thank you for everything that you do, not just in an emergency, but every day.
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the most hard-working people I've ever known, not only at the job you get paid to do, but after you're done there you come home and take care of everything and everyone that needs it. You don't complain. You don't ask for much. But all those little things add up and all those little things make our lives easier, no matter where "we" all are. I'm proud to be your kid, and I just wanted you to know that. So thank you.