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Someone Else's Story
29/11/10 10:49On the bus to my foot doctor appointment this morning, chatting with a guy who'd forgotten to bring a book and therefore wouldn't let me read mine (we should all have such problems), the bus driver pulled over to announce that the bus was out of service--waiting for an ambulance for a guy with chest pains and shortness of breath.
Okay, then.
We all piled off the bus, including the guy who wasn't feeling well, who was in a muck sweat, hyperventilating, all but thrashing as he lay on the sidewalk. He pulled off his sweatshirt, then his shirt and all but one T-shirt; the guy-without-a-book kept putting his hand on the ailing man's chest and announcing that his heart was fine. The rest of us kept saying "stay still and try to stay calm, help is coming, just in case." The sick guy stood up to throw up copiously--clear fluid, no food (sorry: TMI?) and then lay down again, this time shuddering with cold. I made my one contribution and covered him with the jackets he'd shed.
The ambulance team arrived a few minutes later; I told one of them what I'd observed (since the sick guy just kept saying that he felt terrible and couldn't breathe, over and over, and I know enough to know the more data-points the better). Then I sprinted to catch the next bus, because: doctor's appointment.
I hope the guy is okay. Maybe it was a panic attack, but guy-with-a-book notwithstanding, I'm glad the paramedics got there when they did. And I'll likely never know the end of the tale.
Okay, then.
We all piled off the bus, including the guy who wasn't feeling well, who was in a muck sweat, hyperventilating, all but thrashing as he lay on the sidewalk. He pulled off his sweatshirt, then his shirt and all but one T-shirt; the guy-without-a-book kept putting his hand on the ailing man's chest and announcing that his heart was fine. The rest of us kept saying "stay still and try to stay calm, help is coming, just in case." The sick guy stood up to throw up copiously--clear fluid, no food (sorry: TMI?) and then lay down again, this time shuddering with cold. I made my one contribution and covered him with the jackets he'd shed.
The ambulance team arrived a few minutes later; I told one of them what I'd observed (since the sick guy just kept saying that he felt terrible and couldn't breathe, over and over, and I know enough to know the more data-points the better). Then I sprinted to catch the next bus, because: doctor's appointment.
I hope the guy is okay. Maybe it was a panic attack, but guy-with-a-book notwithstanding, I'm glad the paramedics got there when they did. And I'll likely never know the end of the tale.