Slipping Away
The following tale contains the following:
CPR
MtM
AED
Agonal breathing
Successful Resus
Male rescuer
Female victim
One mention of throwing up but not resus related
One mention of a seizure but not resus related
Unlike most high school sweetheart couples, Harrison and Elise had a remarkably happy relationship. Not many could say that they managed to stay together and be happy despite going to different colleges. Not many could say that they proposed while scuba diving(Elise’s idea). Not many could say they got married, and then have a honeymoon in New York City of all places.
They had only been married for around a week, and the honeymoon had lasted a day so far, but that first day had been one of the happiest of Harrison's life. They had rented bikes along central park, visited the zoo and museum, looked down from the Empire State building, and took a subway to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone roller coaster. (Again, Elise's idea). Tomorrow they planned to see a play on Broadway, and maybe try authentic NYC pizza. But tonight, they had arrived back at their hotel, hand in hand, laughing about the day they had just had.
“Did you see your face on the picture of us on the roller coaster!?" Elise said, laughing her head off. “You looked like you were about to throw up!”
“Eli, I did throw up afterwards.” said Harrison, blushing slightly.
“Ya, I know.” Elise said with a smug grin. “Thats why I bought it and I'm gonna send it to all of our friends. That should give them something to laugh about.”
“Ha ha.” Harrison said. He had to admit, after the soul shaking ride, he kind of liked the photo Elise bought. He felt fine now anyway after drinking a (very expensive) bottle of water he got at the boardwalk.
The couple took some time to themselves to unwind after the fun filled first day of their honeymoon. Showering, putting pajamas on, brushing teeth, the usual nighttime rituals before turning in. Soon, they were in the large queen sized hotel bed, snuggled up under the blankets, watching some drama show they have not seen before.
“Ok, that is not how it worked when we were in high school.” Harrison said, watching some characters have a screaming match over something regarding relationships.
“All I'm thinking of is what would happen of Elenor was in this show.” said Elise, squinting at the TV since she had taken off her spectacles earlier. “I think if she was in that school for about five minutes, she would die of excitement over all the drama that these people go through.
Harrison laughed. Elise made him laugh a lot. It was one of the things he liked about her. Along with her bravery, her desire to try new things all the time, and it helped that she also had a very cute face. Light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and a slight overbite she never bothered to get braces for.
Elise on the other hand, loved Harrison because he was a very understanding listener whenever she had problems with her dysfunctional family, that he was great at playing music for Elise and her friends, and for that despite his nervousness he would always be willing to do whatever it took to help others. Although Elise told him she also thought his face was cute, with his blue eyes, a slight stubble, and even the little scars on his face from always getting hit by baseballs in middle school.
When the episode ended, Elise and Harrison turned the TV and lights off, and almost automatically moved closer, wrapping their arms around each other. They kissed each other, holding the other closer in a tight cuddle. The fire in Harrison's soul that had ignited ever since Elise had asked him to homecoming all those years ago burned if possible even warmer and brighter. Harrison and Elise knew that “soul mates” were likely just fantasy, but if anyone asked them, they had found their own.
“I love you Eli.” Harrison whispered, kissing Elise on her forehead. “I hope you liked our first full day here.”
“I did.” Elise whispered back. “I loved it, Harri. Thank you.”
The two were close enough where Harrison could feel Elise's heart beating, and likely that Elise could feel his own. Harri kind of liked it when this happened. It made him closer to his wife. Made her feel more real. It made him remember, “I am in love with the most beautiful, funniest, kindest, and strongest girl in the entire world..and she's right next to me, and real, and alive.”
Wait? Was her heart ever this slow before?
Normally on the rare chances that Harrison got to hear Elise's heart this close, it was fast, strong, and radiated her sense of adventure. Tonight however, it was slow, and almost hollow sounding.
“Eli, how are you feeling?” Harrison asked, holding her wrist so he could compare her pulse to her true heartbeat. Also really slow.
“Tired..” Elise whispered, almost lazily, closing her eyes. Harrison assumed that must be while her heart was so slow. Their day was intense, so maybe she was just tired.
It still concerned Harrison that Elise's heart seemed to be getting slower. And slower.
“Thump…thump….thump…..thump…. “
Elise let out a slow exhale. She seemed to melt into Harrison's arms.
And her heartbeat was gone.
Harrison's own heart turned to ice in his chest. Shaking his wife gently, he tried to call to her, trying to get her to come back. “Eli..can you hear me? Elise..wake up!” Elise’s eyes remained closed. When Harrison put his fingers on her neck to check again for a pulse, he felt nothing there either.
“No no no no no!” Harrison cried. “Elise! Don’t die!” Waves of panic flooded through Harrison's whole body, and he felt tears start to gather around his eyes. He knew what he had to do to help her, but it never occurred to him in a million years that it would happen like this. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand, hit the emergency button, and let it ring on speaker. While it was ringing, he gently picked Elise off of the bed, and laid her down on the floor. She made a kind of weird snore/gasp sound as he put her down.
Before the operator picked up, Harrison positioned himself next to Elise's body, placed both of his hands along the center of her chest, and began rhythmically pushing down upon it, counting in his head each compression. Elise made another snore/gasp while he was doing this, but Harrison hardly noticed it.
“Come on Eli..come back....you have to fight… our friends still need you....I still need you..”
“911 what's your location and emergency.” The person on the line said in a voice of stoic calm.
“You're not gonna believe this, but..but my wife just died in my arms.” Harrison said, trying not to cry while he spoke. “I’m at the Marathon hotel on 49th street. Room 102.
“Ok. You say your wife died? Is she breathing?”
“No!” Harrison yelled, falling to hold back a sob. “I’m doing CPR now. I got trained a year or two ago but..”
“That's good. Keep doing CPR on her. Paramedics are on their way. You have to be calm for her, ok? I’ll count with you so we can do it properly.” The dispatcher's voice was clearly trying to be a calm anchor for Harrison to attach itself to. Harri had lost count of the amount of compressions he had already done on Elise, so he decided it couldn't hurt to start from the beginning again.
“One. Two. Three. Four. Five” The two counted in time with each other. Faster than what Harrison was doing before. Elise’s head bobbled during each compression, and her eyes were still closed. If not for the fact that a hint of blue was forming around her lips, one might mistake her for being asleep. “Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Therte–”
“CRACK!”
“SHIT!” Harrison yelped, raising his hands up. “Did I do something wrong!? Did I make it worse?” He thought to himself, “Elise, if I killed you just now, I'm so so sorry.”
“That can be fixed.” The dispatcher said. “Death can’t. Keep going.”
“Right!” Harri said. “I’m gonna start again from the top, if that's ok. Elise..come on..”
When he got to thirty, the dispatcher said , “You can either start again and continue hands-only CPR, or if you're comfortable, you may give rescue breaths.
“I know how to give those.” Harrison tilted Elise's head upward, opened her mouth, and pinched her nostrils shut. Hesitating for a fraction of a second, he placed his mouth over hers, forming an airtight seal, giving her his own air. Her lips tasted faintly of the toothpaste she had used to brush her teeth earlier tonight. Elise's chest rose and fell slightly as Harrison breathed for her two times, and when his mouth left hers, he could feel a gust of air exhale from her lungs. “But it's not her breathing out of them” Harrison thought, continuing another compression cycle.
As the dispatcher asked questions about Elise's age, medical history, and some other stuff that Harri was only half listening to, he kept going with the rhythm of performing CPR. All the while, he was whispering his pleas for Elise to come back to him, usually whenever he checked for a pulse.
It was around the end of the third or fourth compression cycle when the dispatcher said, “Sir, there is heavy congestion on the EMTs route. Their arrival may be delayed, but there may possibly be another way to help your wife.
“ Twenty eight. Twenty nine. Thirty…Anything!” Harri said, preparing to give Elise two more rescue breaths.
“If you're at a hotel, there might possibly be an AED in the gym or lobby. If you can, could you or maybe someone else retrieve it? It may restart your wife's heart.
The gym. Harri knew the gym. He and Elise had worked out in it that very morning. He had seen the device hanging by the water fountain. And the gym happened to be directly across from his room.
“I’ll get it!” Harri shouted. He grabbed the hotel key from the nightstand with his phone, and ran out of the room as fast as he could. Barging into the gym, he almost knocked over an elderly man lifting dumbbells as he ran to the back wall to grab the AED. The case squawked an indignant alarm as he took it, but Hararison ignored it. Elise was more important.
“Hey! What gives!?” the old man shouted. But by the time the man had yelled those words, Harri was already back in his room by Elise's side.
“I got it!” He shouted at his phone. Elise was doing another one of those snore/gasp things again.
“Good!” The dispatcher said. Turn it on, and follow its instructions. I’ll help if you need it. Opening the box, a calm mechanical female voice began to speak.
“Don’t panic. Call for help. Remove clothing from the victim's chest. Use the sheers provided if necessary.” Harrison spotted the bright red handle of a pair of scissors inside the box.
“Sorry about this Eli..” Harrison said to her. He quickly cut through the light red pajama shirt that Elise was wearing.
“Place pads on victims chest as shown in the pictures. Then plug in the connector.
“Make sure the pads are not touching each other, and that there is no jewelry in the way.” The dispatcher added. And make sure to peel the back of them. It's kind of like putting on a sticker. And make sure the pads are on exactly as shown in the photos. Even on her breast if you have to.”
Elise did not exactly have the biggest breasts in the world, so applying the pads was easy enough. One on her chest area, and the other on her side below her armpit. The only bit of jewelry Elise had around that area was a pearl necklace she always wore, so it would not interfere with whatever the AED had to do.
“Do not touch the victim. Analyzing heart rhythm.”
“Do not touch her.” The dispatcher said. “It needs to check for a shockable rhythm.”
“Can’t I hold her hand while it’s doing that..?”
“No.”
Harrison stared down at Elise while the device did its work. Her face still looked so peaceful, like she was sleeping beauty. But her chest was bruised from Harrison's CPR and from whatever that crack meant. Probably a broken bone or worse given his luck tonight.” He then said aloud to Elise’s motionless form, “Come on Eli..you can do it. You have to fight.”
“Shock advised. Charging. Stand clear.” The AED said. Harrison tensed, backing away. “Press the red button now.” The device started its own alarm, and he jammed his finger onto the button
He had expected for her to do one of those super high jumps you see in movies and medical dramas. The kind where the victim's back arches up a foot in the air, and for it to make a kind of “THUNK” sound. But the shock was almost a blink and you’ll miss it moment. Elise’s body twitched slightly, and she made a slight gasping noise, but it only lasted a second.
“Check if she has any vital signs now” The dispatcher said after the AED’s beeping stopped.
Harrison reached over and put his fingers on Elise’s neck. He thought he could feel a “flutter.. flutter….flutter..” than nothing.
“Resume CPR for two minutes.” The AED said to the air
“Come on Elise..I saw you try to come back.” Harrison whispered while he positioned his hands on Elise's now bare chest. The comparisons were still hard, but Harrison was starting to get exhausted now. He was also wondering what on earth kind of NYC traffic must be going on for help to take this long to get here. It did not help Harrison's worries that when the AED analyzed her heart for a second time, it didn't shock her.
“No shock advised. Resume CPR.”
“Paramedic ETA three minutes. You're doing great sir.” the dispatcher said, clearly understanding Harrison’s fear.
But Harirson was already crying by now. His compressions became harder and faster with desperation, not even registering the second cracking sound her chest made. He was not even counting anymore. Not out loud like how he and the dispatcher were doing before. He kept repeating words like, “You can do this,” and “Just breathe Eli”, and “Please don’t die.” When he gave her rescue breaths, Harrison's tears fell on Elise's face like she was in a rainstorm.
“Do not touch the victim. Analyzing rhythm.” Harrison moved away again, and waited for the device's next command. “Shock advised, charging.”
“Please come back Eli..” Harrison sobbed. “I love you so much Elise. Please…I want to see you again.” The AED sounded its alarm, and Harrison hit the button to send the shock into Elise’s heart. She twitched again, made that same gasping noise…then her body began stirring.
It was not a seizure. One of Harrison's fathers had seizures when he was little, but this was not that at all. It looked as if Elise was trying to wake up after having a long nap. Her head was moving from side to side, as if confused. Harrison reached for her neck again, hardly daring to believe it.
“flutter….flutter..thump..Thump..Thump..Thump..”
“Eli!” Harrison said, putting his hands on her shoulders and shaking her gently. “Are you ok? Can you hear me?”
Elise's head turned left, right, left, right. Her face made a grimmice, as if in pain. Then she opened her eyes, took a huge lung full of hair, and started coughing as if she had come up from a deep pool. It sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world to Harrison. He had done it. Elise was alive.
“Roll her on her side now. Great job. Paramedics will be here any moment.”
“Thank you..” Harrison said weakly. He rolled her onto her side, and moved in to hold one of her hands tightly in his. She took it, but not as strongly as she normally did. Her breathing sounded ragged and raspy, but it was strong and steady now. A far cry better than the weird gasping noises she was making while unconscious. “Elise…how do you feel?”
“Harri?” said Elise, her voice dry. She tried to position herself to where she was almost sitting up, but her arms shook, and she staggered slightly. She felt her chest, noticing that she was no longer wearing her pajama shirt. She touched the electrode on her breast gingerly, then felt the bruised spot along her ribs and she fell back to the ground in pain. Harrison caught her before she could hit her head. “What..what happened to me? I thought I just fell asleep.”
“I’m just so relieved you're ok!” Harrison said with a sob, hugging Elise close. He could hear sirens outside his hotel window.
“Did something…happen to me?”
“Whats most important right this second is that you just stay awake…and alive..”
Elise’s eyes widened. “I’m guessing…this means that we're not going to the play tomorrow.
Harrison laughed despite his tears. Elise's sense of humor being the same was surely a step in the right direction. “Hadestown can wait. Your life can’t…I love you so much Elise. Don’t scare me like that again. And especially not on our honeymoon.”
“I’ll do my best.” Elise said, snuggling closer into Harri’s arms.
Harrison's fear lifted bit by bit, as the paramedics came in, asked him questions, and moved Elise onto a stretcher. On the way to the hospital, still holding Elise's hand, he thought, “I’m sure she will be ok. We may not be out of the woods yet, but the trees are starting to thin, and we’re starting to see the light at the end of the path.”
(Elise left, Harrison right)
