when you need to know CPR after a long day of drinking

Saturday was an exciting day. I drove up to the city with my iChamp (Apple buddy) Nitin to attend the Union Street festival, then on the way back we stumbled upon something you never really want to run into: a bicyclist lying in the middle of the road, unconscious.

We were headed off of 280 to get some gas in San Carlos when we spotted two cars pulled over to the side of Edgecomb road and a man lying in the middle of the road. It looked like he had been hit by a car. Although my CPR skills are a bit rusty, I decided to pull over to at least make sure they had called 911 and help was on the way. I asked the people already at the scene if they needed help, and by the scared look in their eyes and verbal answer "yes!" decided to stick around. It was a good thing we stopped. I ran back to look at the guy who was lying face up, with spit and a little blood coming out of his mouth. He was breathing (a good sign) heavily and it looked labored, like his tounge was blocking the airway. I ran back to car and clued Nitin into the situation, and he came over. A woman was calling the paramedics frantically on a cell phone, and she couldn't identify what city we were in. Nitin took over and spoke with 911, describing where we were. I went over to the guy and helped roll him on his side, which seemed to help his breathing. Within a couple of minutes he started to come to, moving his hands and legs and then trying to unbuckle his helmet, which was cutting into his throat. Another man came over and proceeded to restrain him to keep him still, and the man (who had gotten hit) said, "get your hands off of me!" I unbuckled his helmet and tried to calm him down a bit by having him count and promising that by the time we had counted to 30, the paramedics would be there (it was true). Nitin called the guy's wife to tell her news...it was a crazy scene. By the time the paramedics arrived, the guy was in great shape, fully conscious and breathing normally. It turned out he didn't get hit by a car, but fell of his bike suddenly. I think he had a heart attack because he was holding his left chest as if in pain. We left to get some much-needed gas.

Encountering this really made me think about what I would want to happen if the man was a family member - it was scary not having any trained professional there to assist us and just trying to do what was right. I think Nitin really helped the most because the woman who was trying to call 911 was sort of hysterical and not really capable of even talking about the location (even though there was a road sign and address sign right there.) In retrospect I think I should have been a little more assertive about helping and keeping everything calm.

I spoke with my parents about what happened, and being medical professionals, they gave me some good advice:

1. Breathing is always good, and you can clearly tell if someone is not getting oxygen, because they will turn COLOR (!!) assuming their skin is white. Knowing this would have helped because I would not have helped turn him on his side, since his color was normal.

2. If there is no risk of head/neck injury, helping someone sit up can help them breathe.

3. There are no rules in this situation! The best thing to do is call 911 (nice work Nitin!)

Anyway, it was exciting and really made me think. Hopefully I'll never have to deal with it again! ADC Gulls to the Rescue!