In the blink of an eye...

[MossRoad]

So I get up to put wood on the stove, and notice a flashing yellow light out in the street. My younger neighbor is stopped at the home of an older neighbor across the street with his pickup truck snow plow. I notice the older man's car stuck in the county plow slush that we all get every time the big plow goes by. The young and old neighbors are standing there talking, I see a couple snow shovels and smiles. So I figure I'll go out and help dig him out, too, but I'm in my PJs. I go down to the basement, throw some wood on the stove, put on my clothes and head outside. As I get towards the end of the drive, I see the old guy flat on his back, a blanket over him and two other neighbors standing over him. I run now, and see the younger neighbor on the phone with 911 and I hear sirens in the distance. Old guy is breathing very shallow and unresponsive for a couple minutes. Then his breathing gets deeper and faster and his arm moves. I tell old guy we're here with him and the ambulance is on the way, hoping he hears me.... and he opens his eyes and say "OK, thanks!"

Apparently, young guy, who always turns his truck the other direction, turned toward old guy's house to run an errand. Saw old guy, got out to help him. Old guy slipped on the snow and fell down. Young guy helped him up. They were talking for a few minutes. Old guy's shovel was broken. Young guy got his shovel from his truck and started digging him out and all of a sudden, old guy puts his hands on the trunk, tells young guy he thinks his defibrillator just went off! He starts going down, young guy catches him, lays him on the ground and then he said the old guy starts shaking. Then he goes still. Then he shakes again. Then still. No breathing. Then he shakes again and starts breathing. Other neighbors bring the blanket, young guy calls 911 and that's where I came out.

Maybe 2-3 minutes the guy goes from having a conversation to being shocked back to life. Amazing. Fire and rescue show up, old guy is fairly responsive. He stands up and they walk him to his warm car to sit until the ambulance shows up. He gets up again and walks to the gurney. They check him out for about 15 minutes, and take him away.

Now, I will say the old guy takes care of himself. He's had heart troubles in the past, has his built in defibrillator, and he walks almost every day. Apparently it paid off for him today. Hope he's O.K. Keep him in your thoughts, and watch out for others, especially when it comes to shoveling snow. It might be you or me that needs help some day.
:thumbsup:

 

[MH8675309]

That was an eye opener wasn't it? Good story - glad it has turned out well so far.

 

[jimmyj]

Wow that's quite a story. Thank goodness the fella wasn't alone.

 

[Moves]

Hat's off to the "young guy." for being there AND for helping an elderly neighbor

 

[Bird]

Hat's off to the "young guy." for being there AND for helping an elderly neighbor

Amen!

 

[GolfAddict]

And the young guy would normally never have been there...I guess it just wasn't the old guys time to go. Wow!

 

[Paul Thornton]

Thank's for a good neighbor story.

 

[mark02tj]

Glad the older guy is OK!!! Your story is a good reminder to all of us to stay current on CPR, first aid, etc.

When I was in college many years ago I cut grass at empty houses for realtors. One evening I was cutting a lawn and noticed some neighbors chatting across the street. It was one older couple and one younger couple. I didn't pay too much attention to them as it was a nice evening and they were enjoying themselves. I made another pass around the yard and noticed that only three people were standing - the old man was laying in the grass!! I shut down my mower and ran over there. The old man was conscious, but kind of out of it. Amazingly, none of them thought to call the squad (we didn't have 911 yet). I told the younger woman to call the squad (gave her the number) and while she was walking off, the old man's eyes rolled back in his head and he kind of gasped and stopped breathing. In CPR classes back then we were taught to "give four quick breaths" before doing anything else if someone stopped breathing. That's what I did and it snapped him back to breathing again on his own and he came to. His wife called me the next day (got my name and number from the realtor who's sign was in the yard I was cutting) and told me he was OK and back home.

Those built-in defibrillators are pretty cool!! They're usually coupled with a pacemaker. Dick Cheney has one. My now ex-wife also has one. She got her first one when her heart suddenly stopped for no reason in the middle of the night. She spent six weeks in the hospital while they tried to figure out what happened and what to do about it. The pacemaker/defib combinations were just in their infancy at the time and weren't even FDA approved yet. Her first one was mounted in her belly with wires running up to the heart. (Cool x-rays!!) It looked like she had hidden a pack of cigarettes in her belly when she was pregnant as this thing stuck out that much. By about the third one (replaced every 4-6 years) they were about 1/4 of the size of the original and were mounted up in the chest. It went from being a week long stay in the hospital to being outpatient surgery. She's had one for 25 years now and it's never gone off except one time when it malfunctioned.

 

[JDgreen227]

So I get up to put wood on the stove, and notice a flashing yellow light out in the street. My younger neighbor is stopped at the home of an older neighbor across the street with his pickup truck snow plow. I notice the older man's car stuck in the county plow slush that we all get every time the big plow goes by. The young and old neighbors are standing there talking, I see a couple snow shovels and smiles. So I figure I'll go out and help dig him out, too, but I'm in my PJs. I go down to the basement, throw some wood on the stove, put on my clothes and head outside. As I get towards the end of the drive, I see the old guy flat on his back, a blanket over him and two other neighbors standing over him. I run now, and see the younger neighbor on the phone with 911 and I hear sirens in the distance. Old guy is breathing very shallow and unresponsive for a couple minutes. Then his breathing gets deeper and faster and his arm moves. I tell old guy we're here with him and the ambulance is on the way, hoping he hears me.... and he opens his eyes and say "OK, thanks!"

Apparently, young guy, who always turns his truck the other direction, turned toward old guy's house to run an errand. Saw old guy, got out to help him. Old guy slipped on the snow and fell down. Young guy helped him up. They were talking for a few minutes. Old guy's shovel was broken. Young guy got his shovel from his truck and started digging him out and all of a sudden, old guy puts his hands on the trunk, tells young guy he thinks his defibrillator just went off! He starts going down, young guy catches him, lays him on the ground and then he said the old guy starts shaking. Then he goes still. Then he shakes again. Then still. No breathing. Then he shakes again and starts breathing. Other neighbors bring the blanket, young guy calls 911 and that's where I came out.

Maybe 2-3 minutes the guy goes from having a conversation to being shocked back to life. Amazing. Fire and rescue show up, old guy is fairly responsive. He stands up and they walk him to his warm car to sit until the ambulance shows up. He gets up again and walks to the gurney. They check him out for about 15 minutes, and take him away.

Now, I will say the old guy takes care of himself. He's had heart troubles in the past, has his built in defibrillator, and he walks almost every day. Apparently it paid off for him today. Hope he's O.K. Keep him in your thoughts, and watch out for others, especially when it comes to shoveling snow. It might be you or me that needs help some day.
:thumbsup:

HEY...why is it okay for young guy to help old guy by being a nice person, but when this old guy uses his tractor to clear a snow clogged and severely congested intersection near his home hoping to prevent an accident from cross traffic, some of the members here give him a hard time saying he is wrong to clear a public intersection because he opens himself to liability??? Why isn't the young guy in the story opening himself to liability because he has the decency to help the old guy?? WHAT A SCREWED UP SOCIETY WE EXIST IN !!!!!

 

[coobie]

Glad everything turned out ok.Good story,makes one think of QTL (quality time left).