I Helped Save Someone’s Life
It’s funny to me that CPR is best performed to the beat of The Beegees' ‘Staying Alive’.
I love ironic little tidbits of information.
Satisfying and memorable.
'Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man, no time to talk
Music loud and women warm
I've been kicked around since I was born
And now it's all right, it's okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive (hey)'
And while I’m sure it sounds absolutely ridiculous in the moment, it works. Even when the chance of survival is 10%, 5%, 3%...it works.
Only 10% of people who recieve cpr outside of a hospital setting survive. When you add in other factors and risks, the chances are even lower.
And that’s not lost on me. I watched someone actively dying on the ground as the ocean and sirens roared in the background, both sounding like they were in a tunnel as my own pulse screamed in my ears.
‘Chels, help’.
Brandon had just gotten home from the forest, I had just poured a stiff fireball (I’m trash) and lit a cigarette. It was Sunday Funday.
We were outside at the right time.
We saw our neighbor kneeling on the freshly mowed grass next to her unresponsive husband whom we still haven't officially met.
She had 911 on the phone and had already started the compressions that saved his life.
His eyes had already lost color. His earlobes were purple.
I took over after the classic parasympathetic ‘deer in the headlights’ feeling wore off. My prefrontal cortex responded to fight or flight effectively for the first, maybe last, time in my life.
I remembered how hard I had to pound the dummy during the CPR section of highschool lifeguard training. I could see the memory so vividly. I felt his ribs or sternum cracking under the weight of my body. I made Brandon count for me as I was out of breath. From both force and adrenaline.
One, two, three, four Staying Alive, Staying Alive.
There is a lot more resistance with flesh and bone than there is with plastic and silicone. I wasn't expecting it to be so difficult.
Brandon took over, and I stayed close, watching for signs of improvement. I would yell words of encouragement in his face every time he'd take an agonal breath…which don't do much of anything, and don't circulate oxygen to the brain, but it was hopeful to see a biological sign that wasn't dead yet.
I couldn't feel his pulse. I squeezed his wrist so hard hoping to feel something but nothing was there. I told myself that I did it wrong, that mine was pounding too hard to feel his.
We later found out he was without a pulse for about 15 minutes.
We circulated the oxygenated blood in his body, keeping his brain alive for about 6 minutes until the paramedics arrived.
It could've been ten minutes or even more or less. Time wasn’t moving in the way that I'm used to. Not necessarily slower or faster, just different.
I don’t believe in god, but a part of me still wanted to pray with his wife as she sat on the ground catching her breath.
I got her some water instead.
Widowmaker. What an awful name.
Thinking about just how slim his chances were makes my own heart skip a beat.
I had a few more drinks after he'd been taken in the ambulance and we helped his wife get herself together to head to the hospital.
I still didn’t sleep well that night. Or the next few nights.
Hell, I’m finally sleeping ok 2 weeks later.
His doctor said he is remarkable this week. A miracle.
Doctors generally don't call people 'miracles'. Science isn't a miracle. Good outcomes happen because people know how to help, and medical professionals step in at the right time.
Maybe it was just good timing. Dumb luck. Maybe it was a fuckin' miracle. I don't know.
We almost didn't go out for a smoke.
And she couldn't have kept him alive on her own.
He's ok. And I get to apologize for beating the shit out of him and give him my hardest hand shake. Probably a hug.
And for that I feel fortunate and grateful.
'Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.'
Learn CPR. If only just the basics.
It’s important and it saves lives.
Be friendly with your neighbors.
All we have is each other.
This happened in October, and I’ve since met, stared at for too long, and hugged my neighbor. His wife texts us regularly.