In the Blink of an Eye!

When K died on April 13th, I was reminded how quickly our loved ones can be snatched from us. Today, that lesson was driven home again.

This morning, while Z and I were at work, a couple in their fifties seated themselves at a table. I grabbed 2 menus as I took an order of food to another table. As I was heading to the new table, the husband started screaming: "Call 911!! Call 911!!" I grabbed the cordless phone, dialed 911, and headed back to their table. I've called for an ambulance several times in the past and I know that 911 dispatchers LOVE to play 20 questions. I wanted to be able to hand the phone to the husband, so he could answer their questions.

The wife was growling for breath and sliding off her chair when I reached the table. Two of our male customers leaped to help the husband get his wife to the floor. It took me 3 tries to reach the 911 dispatcher. The first 2 times I dialed, I got the: "The number you dialed cannot be reached. Please try again." recording. Damned phone company and their unreliable phone lines!! I quickly told the dispatcher that we needed an ambulance for a woman who had, by this time, STOPPED BREATHING!! Mercifully, the dispatcher only asked one question:"Does anybody there know CPR?" One of the men knew CPR, but we couldn't get the limp woman rolled onto her back. She weighed at least 300 lbs.

The dispatcher said: "The ambulance is on its way!", and I hung up. I threw the phone to the boss, telling her to call the railroad depot so no trains would be blocking the ambulance's path. Then I ran outside to make sure there wasn't a train getting ready to leave.

When I returned, the men had gotten her breathing started again, but she quit breathing twice more before the Sheriff's deputy arrived, ahead of the ambulance. The deputy was carrying oxygen and a portable defibrillator. The deputy was defibrillating the women when the ambulance arrived.

The husband, 2 men, deputy, and 2 EMTs had a helluva time getting the woman onto a stretcher and onto the gurney! The EMTs quickly had her hooked up to a breathing machine and a heart monitor, before they wheeled her out.

The heart monitor was making an ominous "eeeeeeee" sound, with no little heartbeat blips. We all prayed that she made it, but it didn't look good. In less than 30 minutes, a woman had gone from talking and smiling with her husband, to a limp form on a gurney.

I found Z outside, grinning nervously. "Mom, I've been feeling depressed lately. I'd been thinking that maybe I needed some kind of off the wall, near-death experience to shake me back to myself. It's weird, but God just did that for me, didn't he? This tragedy could've happened anytime, but God made sure it happened when I was here to witness it. My problems are small compared to what this family is going through. Life is precious....and fragile....appreciate it!"