Preparing to perform in a life or
death situation.
.
Her dark eyes blankly stared at the ceiling of the white
SUV. Her mouth hung open but no breath
filled her lungs. The leather seat was
dripping with urine.
Screams of fear and heart ache, loss, and anger rang in the
air. “MY MOTHER STOPPED BREATHING! HELP ME!!!! PLEEEASSSE SOMEONE HELP ME! SHE
CAN’T BREATH! SHE NEEDS HELP! CALL 911! “
The 68 ish , 165 lb ish, stout mother of Asian descent could
have been dead already for all I knew.
What was clear to me was that no one in my immediate vicinity had the
ability to handle this situation.
The check list rapidly fired through my head in what seemed
an instant.
#1 She can’t breath and who know how long she has been this
way.
#2 The emergency professionals on hand that worked at the
weekend care clinic were frozen with lack of knowledge or fearing litigation.
#3 No one in the surrounding area was physically strong
enough to lift this woman out of that vehicle and perform CPR.
I didn't think much more then that before I found myself
threading my arms around the woman’s middle section and violently squeeze the
life back into her passive body. I gave her 2 or 3 good pumps and she gasped
for air. Like a reverse Heimlich maneuver.
The clinic staff by now had provided a wheel chair to
transport the woman to a controlled environment but didn't offer any help to
move her. I lifted her out of the SUV
and placed her in the wheel chair. Urine now dribbling down my legs and into my
flip flops. Her legs were stuck in the
front seat of the vehicle and the medical people STILL offered no
assistance. The daughter of the woman
finally calmed down enough to get her mother’s legs unjammed. Meanwhile, I am steadily giving her chest
squeezes hoping I am doing some good.
As we finally settle her sagging body into the wheel chair I
check her vitals one last time. Her eyes have closed and with my face close to
her mouth I hear her groan. I smooth her
hair out of her face and whisper to her that she is doing great and keep
fighting.
So now that you
know how this situation unfolded, you should know a few details of the event to
get a clear picture. As you may have surmised,
we were in front of a ready care clinic that takes very minor medical
conditions. If there was a doctor there,
I never saw one.
Next,
my daughter had just finished her championship softball game, awards ceremony,
and at this point I was dragging her to her 30 minute recital rehearsal with no
leotard or shoes. Of course we were
running late as well. The dance studio
is right next store to the clinic and that is how I happened upon this
situation.
The
mother’s adult daughter, about my age, and 2 young granddaughters of about 10
years old were frantically on hand as well as a clinic nurse and receptionist and
several clinic patients that had been waiting to be seen in the lobby.
My
daughter Lilli was watching the whole event as well, clutching my purse that I
had flung aside.
I
feel in my heart that I was absolutely supposed to be at that place at that
time and I consider it a privilege. You
can think what you will about fate. I have spent 6
years doing SEALFIT and training as a warrior.
Some think it strange. Some have said “midlife crisis”. I enjoy what I do and the opportunities of my
job and take every bit of wisdom and incite that Commander Mark Divine and our
team have to offer. Saturday May 2nd it all paid off. I was able to
use a practiced skill set to make a difference and step up. I could go on about this for a long time but
I won’t. I will simply refer you to the
Unbeatable Mind program if you want to see what I have been studying.
I
will mention three of the most important skills that came into play in this
situation and hope that if you are faced with a dire circumstance you might
remember my words.
1. I removed myself mentally from the immediate
crisis and viewed the situation as a witness.
This is an amazing technique that allows you to slightly disassociate from
the mayhem and see things from a larger perspective. This will create a calm
for you that will allow you to respond quickly and effectively. For me the big picture was an upset family,
sick lady, no help.
2. Front
site focus then came into play. This is
a bit like tunnel vision and your senses take in the immediate situation and quickly
analysis all the factors shutting out the rest of the outside world. . You tune out the unnecessary things and hone
in on the most important details. I
heard details like “can’t breathe, call 911, and inhaler ”. These cues all told me to expect a closed
airway. I needed to work to get air in her and keep her heart going.
3. Making
quick decisions. I had to act.
Now I have taken extensive CPR training but never had to use it. The last CPR course I took was from a woman
who wore very little clothing and had enormous breasts. Needless to say it was quite distracting and
I wondered if I would remember anything after finishing the course. But I did!
I am not picking on my CPR instructor, in fact I am paying that lady a
compliment. She asked for a volunteer to
help her demo a variation of a chest compression (the exact move I used) and
every guy in the rooms hand shot up to volunteer. I remembered that move and
how much we all giggled doing it to one another. It seemed so absurd at the time.
4. Most
importantly, I had to trust my instincts. I had to listen to that inner voice
that said “get in there and do whatever it takes”. I had all the tools to help her even though I
never had to use them.
For the last few days I have
hyper analyzed the event. Did I do the best that I could of? Did I do everything right? Probably not.
But I did do something. Something
decisive.
So you are probably wondering if
she survived. I can’t say for sure. The medics could only tell me that she had
a pulse when the ambulance took her away but I know in my heart that she is
alright. I can feel it just as I could
feel the life flood back into her body when she started to breathe. I will probably never see that family
again. Happy Mother’s day where ever you
are.
Be prepared and live and die trying.
Mother Warrior.
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