I had a very eventful ride into work today on the giant purple shuttle....
First of all - the shuttle was 25 minutes late picking us up because the traffic over 17 was really bad.
And when I got on the bus, one of the guys who rides all the way from Santa Cruz made a joke that they were late because they stopped for breakfast on the way and I asked him what he had an he said eggs benedict....and everyone laughed.
So we head out and get on the highway and I start my computer and begin working. I would guess that we were a couple miles into the trip when that same guy who had made the breakfast joke - I will call him Tom - sat forward in his seat and said, " I don't feel well". He was across the aisle and one seat back from me. I turn around and take one look at him and realize that this is not good. He is sweating and white.
He is on the edge of his seat and says he just needs to lay down and lays in the center aisle of the bus. I turn in my seat and start asking him questions:
Do you have any medical conditions?
Do you have a heart condition?
Do you have pain in your chest, arm or jaw?
He points to a spot in his chest and says "right here".
At this point, I scream out to the driver to call 911 that we have a medical emergency and I jump over to the seat where he was sitting so I am closer to him -- and he starts losing consciousness. I am talking to him and rubbing my knuckles on his chest and moving his head. I checked for a pulse and found one at first but then he totally lost consciousnesses and I could not find a pulse on either side of his neck. And his chest was no longer rising or falling.
I called out to someone to double check for a pulse to make sure I was not missing it and someone checked and said they did not feel one either.
I started CPR and did it for a little bit and he started coming to. I am not sure if he really needed it or if his pulse had been so shallow that I couldn't feel it. But from what I could tell, he was not breathing and had no pulse.
He oriented pretty quickly - he knew the date, his name, what he claimed to have had for breakfast (eggs benedict) and where we were going. But he was loopy and repeating stuff over and over and not making a lot of sense. He kept saying that this had happened to him when he was 13 (he is now 44) and that the doctor just told him to eat more!
It took a long time for the fire department to get there because the freeway was wall to wall traffic. So while waiting, he tried to get up once and then had to lay back down. Then on the second try, he was able to get up in the seat but was still pale and clammy. And at this point, he was trying to get us to continue on our way in the bus to go to work! He said he would call for help at work if he needed it!
He was still clammy, white and sweaty.
At this point, I had to become totally pushy and pretty much say, we are not moving this bus until paramedics show up and tell us you are clear to go. "Tom" apparently was a former EMT so he knew he could refuse medical transport - but he couldn't refuse us from waiting for help. At one point I said to him, "If I was your mother - although I want the record to show that I am not old enough to be your mother - I would want you to go to the hospital!" That quieted him down for awhile.
Then he talked about it again and I told him if we called off the first responders and continued down the road and he dropped dead a mile from here, then I couldn't live with that.....that shut him up for good.
When the fire department showed up, he tried to refuse transport from them and they wouldn't let him. So off he goes in an ambulance and we merge back on to the freeway to go to work.
A few funny things that happened during this drama:
1. My comment about not being old enough to be his mother!
2. I am wearing a cute little dress and was all squeezed into the center of a bus aisle providing medical care....let's just say it's a good thing I was wearing my shorts style spanks! I had to apologize to a bus full of people for my unfortunate wardrobe malfunction!
3. Once he was sitting up, we were looking for something for him to eat or drink - like a piece of fruit or some juice. And some guy speaks up and says - "I have a peanut butter and jelly on a bagel and some graham crackers." And I immediately think..."what....are you a five year old going to kindergarten? Who takes pb and j and graham crackers to work???"
4. When "Tom" had come to and was still laying on the floor, I looked up and saw a bunch of people getting off the bus. I asked everyone, "is there another bus here that people are getting on?" And they say that, "no, John so and so, an employee, saw the shuttle pulled over and stopped to say he could take three people into the office!" So three people go off the bus and into John's mini van and went to work! So random!
Anyway - when I went to yoga at lunch today and I had to make an offering for the class, my offering was that "Tom" gets well and a "thank you" that he didn't die on that bus!
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