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Apr. 15th, 2016 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sherryillkI called 911 for real a few weeks ago. For the first time.
I was at work and someone had collapsed. She had passed out and was lying on the ground like she was dead. I thought she was dead. Her husband was right next to her. They were an older Native American couple that I see around maybe once a month, or maybe once every couple of months.
The way he sounded when he called out her name, begging her not to do this to him and to wake up... I don't think I will ever forget how it sounded for the rest of my life. I've never heard such blind panic before.
So I grabbed my cell and I called 911, hoping to get help in time. Thankfully, she came back to during the phone call, but it was while I was relaying things back and forth with the operator and her husband that I found out she was in her early 60s (slightly older than my own father!!), and that they both had diabetes. The husband was afraid it was stroke or a heart attack, but when the paramedics came, they determined her blood pressure was good and that her heart rate was in the 30s and was what had made her pass out when she bent down to pick something up.
They thought there might be a blockage or something else that was causing the low heart rate and because it was bouncing back up to normal, they determined it was best if they took her to the hospital for further tests.
I have no idea if she's okay now. I hope she is. It would be a shame if something more happened to her.
What made me think of this now is that someone I knew moderately well just passed way along similar circumstances early this week. He was with his wife, shopping at a mall and had just had Mexican for lunch when he felt like he had some horrible heartburn. And then he collapsed right there. It was a heart attack. They tried shocking him, but it was too late. He didn't even make it to the hospital. And he was only 41.
It's crazy. I just saw him last week too. He seemed perfectly fine. I mean, he was morbidly obese so we all knew it probably wouldn't end well with him but none of us ever thought he would go this soon. I always assumed that once he retired, he would take better care of himself now that he had all this free time. And he retired less than half a year ago! He didn't even really get to enjoy his freedom! It's such a damn shame.
He left behind three daughters, two of which are still in high school... His own mother only passed away two years ago... *shakes head* Everything about this is depressing.
His funeral is on Sunday, which by some extreme coincidence, none of us can go to because Sunday is my niece's 100 Day party. It's been planned for weeks now and there's a ton of family and friends invited so it's not like we can get out of it.
And through all this, I can't but be selfish and think of myself, my own mortality, and of that of the people around me. It's sad and scary and I just don't know anything anymore... It just makes me want to hide away in my house and never come out again.
I was at work and someone had collapsed. She had passed out and was lying on the ground like she was dead. I thought she was dead. Her husband was right next to her. They were an older Native American couple that I see around maybe once a month, or maybe once every couple of months.
The way he sounded when he called out her name, begging her not to do this to him and to wake up... I don't think I will ever forget how it sounded for the rest of my life. I've never heard such blind panic before.
So I grabbed my cell and I called 911, hoping to get help in time. Thankfully, she came back to during the phone call, but it was while I was relaying things back and forth with the operator and her husband that I found out she was in her early 60s (slightly older than my own father!!), and that they both had diabetes. The husband was afraid it was stroke or a heart attack, but when the paramedics came, they determined her blood pressure was good and that her heart rate was in the 30s and was what had made her pass out when she bent down to pick something up.
They thought there might be a blockage or something else that was causing the low heart rate and because it was bouncing back up to normal, they determined it was best if they took her to the hospital for further tests.
I have no idea if she's okay now. I hope she is. It would be a shame if something more happened to her.
What made me think of this now is that someone I knew moderately well just passed way along similar circumstances early this week. He was with his wife, shopping at a mall and had just had Mexican for lunch when he felt like he had some horrible heartburn. And then he collapsed right there. It was a heart attack. They tried shocking him, but it was too late. He didn't even make it to the hospital. And he was only 41.
It's crazy. I just saw him last week too. He seemed perfectly fine. I mean, he was morbidly obese so we all knew it probably wouldn't end well with him but none of us ever thought he would go this soon. I always assumed that once he retired, he would take better care of himself now that he had all this free time. And he retired less than half a year ago! He didn't even really get to enjoy his freedom! It's such a damn shame.
He left behind three daughters, two of which are still in high school... His own mother only passed away two years ago... *shakes head* Everything about this is depressing.
His funeral is on Sunday, which by some extreme coincidence, none of us can go to because Sunday is my niece's 100 Day party. It's been planned for weeks now and there's a ton of family and friends invited so it's not like we can get out of it.
And through all this, I can't but be selfish and think of myself, my own mortality, and of that of the people around me. It's sad and scary and I just don't know anything anymore... It just makes me want to hide away in my house and never come out again.
