If there was ever a need to tell your teenager to keep their floor clean, I have one for you.
Read on.
My eleven year old son Isaac was going to bed one night. He asked his mom, who had been leaving real early the previous three days, if she was going to be there when he got up the next morning. "Yes, baby, Mommy is done with the function. I will be here."
"Ok, night!"
He then came and gave me a hug and asked if I would add his three friends to the texting on his phone. We tried, but the webpage was down for maintenance. "Sorry, bud, it won't let me do it right now. I will have to try again later."
He then asked me if I wanted a Popsicle.
"Sure!"
So he went and got me one to eat while I worked on the computer.Then we did our daddy-son tilt of the head that we do, and he went to his room to get ready for bed.
It wasn't five minutes that my older son had this strong urge to get a charge cord out of the room they share. He found him and called urgently for us. Mom hit the room first, and I was about 10 steps behind. My pace doubled when I heard her get very excited, since she is not usually like that in the boys' room unless it's to reprimand them for the messy room.
We found that he had slipped on clothes in the floor of the room, and was hanging with a bathrobe cord around his neck about 3 inches off the ground. Mom was pulling on his arms. I grabbed his lifeless body and propped him up on the lower bunk, then mom and I removed the cord.
I placed him on the floor, feeling for a pulse, yelling over my wife's sobbing for her to do the same. There was no pulse and no breathing, so I proceeded with rescue breathing to see if the airway was clear. Hearing and feeling my breath go into his lungs, I remember having a quick thought of thanks to God for the instruction I received so long ago for CPR.
Hearing the breath come out, satisfied that he could receive air to his lungs, I gave him a couple more then checked to see if a pulse had returned. Feeling none, and my wife shaking her head, I started compressions. In all the times I have used CPR, I have never felt a heart start under my hand....until that day. It was a serene feeling. It was very quick. The whole process was, maybe, thirty seconds.
The next thing I said was,
"Ok, his heart is beating..... NOW BREATHE!" (looking down at him)
A few seconds later he took a gasping breath, followed by a second one about twenty seconds later. My daughter was on the phone, and I yelled at her to bring it to me, put it on the floor, and turn it to speaker phone. I explained to the 911 operator who I was, what she needed, and what was happening at the time. She wanted to time the breathing herself, so we worked together to get a timing down.She also told me to continue keeping the airway open, like CPR training describes.
The breathing continued while the police and the rescue personnel came in. I was still supporting his airway when they took over.
______________
Divine Intervention (or why we are at the hospital instead of the alternative):
- Jesse did not need to charge his phone, but went for the cord anyway, at that moment.
- Jesse alerted us to the problem, getting us to him quickly, as soon as he found him.
- My CPR training was from the military, then again in a hospital job. I became a trainer at that job, ensuring I had it well memorized.
- Jesse was nominated to the Merchant Marine Academy for this fall, but was not accepted due to cutbacks. His presence was crucial to us finding Isaac. Had he been accepted he would NOT HAVE BEEN THERE.
- My position with the school is different than my career path, where I was traveling frequently. Had I still been consulting I may not have been home.
