‘I refuse to pretend we are dumber than we are.’

I’m mentally filing away that gem, cuz I can think of many times I have thought to myself ‘come now, I’m not stupid’

But that is so much better.

My little mountain town is known for parades, but I would go absolutely bat shit if a Krampus night became a thing here. It would become my whole personality.

Getting a CPAP that works well costs money, but the cardiac and mental health benefits are life changing for people.
MAHA: Fuck that, here have some mouth tape.

Make America Have Lead Poisoning Again is the next slogan? Cuz those protein powders have a lot of lead in them.

And my friend: all is well. Concussion. No brain bleed. Everyone is going to live another day. A little worse for wear.

When i remember it, i still hope he is well. And if he isn’t… well, he didn’t die in a train car full of people that day.

From there, sternal rubs every 6-8 seconds. Breath. Count. Rub, breath. Count, rub, breath. Keep head up, keep airway open, stimulate, breath. Repeat till paramedics took over. Longest minutes of my life.
I am glad I had my walk home to process and think.

I still remember walking though the train car and seeing the kid’s mottled purple gray arm dangling in the walkway and thinking ‘awe fuck. How can I get him on the floor to do CPR.’ But I didn’t need to once I grabbed the back of his hair, lifted his head up, opening his airway and he took in air.

But if there is any take home message: you don’t have to do much to help someone. You just have to listen to that bit of your soul that tells you something is wrong and you might be able to help. A basic ass first aid understanding, and a willingness to be inconvenienced. That it sometimes.

I was working for a medical teaching university and walked past people who still had ID’s from work on themselves. I was angry about that for a long time. Still am. And once the paramedics were coming up, so did a doctor, who was on the train. And he scooted off soon, without helping. Ass.

And if it was my kid, I would want them alive. You can’t kick drugs dead. And I couldn’t imagine how it would feel for my kid to die in a train car full of people. I can’t.
It changed how I thought about a lot of things.

A 26 year old kid was minutes away from death/brain damage, in a train car, full of people.
Not one of them did a thing to help.
And CPR wasn’t needed. Someone just had to grab the back of his head, lift it up, opening up his airway and poke him hard enough every 6-8 seconds so he breathed.